


Wings

by Jacksonofabitch



Category: GOT7, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Gen, Jin is a mom, NaNoWriMo, Platonic Ships, Sadness, literally everyone platonicly loves each other, powerau, so many of them, they get happy though, very slight markson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-08-28 16:38:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 44
Words: 43,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8453812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jacksonofabitch/pseuds/Jacksonofabitch
Summary: The boys of Bangtan are different. Strange things happen around them, because of them. This is their story, how they fought and fled and struggled.





	1. Chapter 1

**Part One: Blood**

The facility had always had a mournful lack of color. The walls, the floors, the stiff uniforms they were forced to wear were all a bland white. Even the people seemed to become white over time, as if they were slowly being drained of their life. It was due to the lack of sunlight, Jin knew, but, as he looked down at his bony, crooked fingers, he wondered if maybe the prior was true after all.

He certainly felt drained of life.

The door to the room opened and Taehyung spilled inside, face void of emotion, but there was a flickering of anger in his eyes. The younger pulled himself up onto his top bunk without greeting or even acknowledging that Jin was there. At one point, the brunet would have complained, but it wasn’t worth the fighting anymore and Taehyung was tired. They all were.

One by one, the others returned. Yoongi and Namjoon came next, quietly discussing the tests they had just been subjected to. The two sat on Namjoon’s bed, voices a low rumble that barely disturbed the silence of the room. Next was Jungkook, followed quickly by Jimin carrying a first aid kit and telling him he shouldn’t be walking.

It was then Jin noticed where Jungkook’s uniform had burned away at a small place on the back of his leg, the uniform charred and stained with dark blood. He slid off his bed. “Jungkookie? What happened?”

The youngest sat on his bunk, staring at the floor. His hands were clenched into fists at his side and his lips trembled slightly. “Nothing.”

Jin took the kit from Jimin and sat next to Jungkook. He tugged Jungkook’s leg onto his lap gently while Jungkook laid back on his bed, his breathing slow and forced. Jimin continued to hover over the two, biting at his plush lips. His eyes were flashing deep yellow and around the room, blankets and pillows started to flutter.

“Jimin, calm down,” Yoongi called. “C’mere.” He patted the space next to him. Jimin hesitated, glancing down at Jungkook. Jungkook waved him off dismissively and Jimin went to his hyung.

“It’ll be okay, you know,” Jin murmured, taking special care while cutting away the pantleg so he could reach the wound. It wasn’t deep or particularly bad. Jungkook had had worse. They all had. That wasn’t the problem. “You just need more practice.”

Jungkook ignored him, staring at the wall. His nose twitched as he sniffed. Jin pretended he didn’t see the tears welling up in his eyes.

Taehyung crawled down from the bed overhead and sat between Jungkook and the wall. He ran his fingers through Jungkook’s hair while holding the other, concentrating hard on it. His eyes turned a bright green for a moment and a small white flower bloomed in the middle of his palm. He handed it to Jungkook who clutched it close to his chest, thumb running over the soft petals.

By then, Jin had finished disinfecting and wrapping the burn. “You should try and stay off it as much as you can. I’ll change the bandage after dinner, okay?”

“Okay.”

Jin smiled, ruffling the kid’s hair. “How was your day, Taehyung?”

“I failed again.”

“You’ll get it. Just be patient.”

“I won’t. I _can’t._ It hurts too much.” Taehyung pouted, curling into a ball.

The eldest sighed, wishing he could do something more to comfort him. He felt so useless so much of the time recently. Across the room, Namjoon and Yoongi burst into laughter while Jimin whined, ears turning red. A pillow flew across the room and hit Yoongi full in the face. Namjoon only laughed harder at that.

Jungkook slid his leg off Jin’s lap, sitting up to scoot closer to Taehyung. “Make me more flowers, Tae-hyung.”

“Say please.” Taehyung was smiling slightly. At least, they brightened each other up.

“No.”

The slightly older boy punched his shoulder. “Don’t be such a brat. Jin, teach him some manners.”

Jin chuckled. “Why?”

“Because you’re his mom.”

“He’s your mom too!” Jungkook half-shouted, indignant. “Be a nice hyung and make me more flowers.”

The oldest of the group laughed again, reaching over to take the flower that Jungkook already had. He tucked it behind Jungkook’s ear, briefly wishing it wasn’t white for the sake of some color in the room, even if it was only a tiny flower. “You’re so cute, Jungkookie.” He squished the youngest’s cheeks to Jungkook’s displeasure. “Let Taehyung rest a while okay?”

“’Kay.”

“Jungkookie, save me!” Jimin squeaked, flinging himself onto the bed, still careful not to land on Jungkook’s injured leg. “Yoongi hyung’s gonna kill me!”

Jungkook pushed him away, laughing. “Good.”

The second oldest was on him in half a second, mercilessly tickling the poor kid. Jimin’s loud and high giggles echoed off the hard walls, until the room was filled with laughter. The others laughed as well, ignoring Jimin’s gasping pleas for help. Eventually, Yoongi grew tired of the exercise and flopped onto the floor, poking at the panting boy with his foot. “Do that again, little shit. I dare ya.”

Jimin only whimpered in response.

“Serves him right,” Jungkook said, “for disrespecting a hyung.” He was then pelted with pillows from all over the room. “Rude.”

“You’re rude, Jungkook,” Jin kindly reminded him.

They all laughed and Jungkook pouted. For a moment, their problems fell away and everything was okay.

And then Hoseok walked in.


	2. Chapter 2

In a flash, the room had gone back to dead silence. Hoseok hovered in the door for a moment, eyes searching over all of their faces, before he finally stepped fully into the room. The door slid closed behind him as he crossed over to his bed, the nearest one to the door and above Yoongi’s, swinging up onto it. There was a bit of shuffling as he crawled under the blankets and then more silence.

The others quietly went back to their own beds, except for Taehyung who stayed with Jungkook. Yoongi went back to Namjoon’s, tugging Jimin with him. The younger boy looked like he wanted to go to Hoseok, but it was a bad idea at that moment and they all knew it.

The silence stretched on for a while after that, broken only by occasional soft whispers and movement. Jin watched Hoseok’s bunk from where he laid on his bed. He could just barely see the white lump of Hoseok curled up on it. Just barely see him shake.

 _It’s cruel what they’ve done to us,_ Jin thought, not for the first time, not for the last. Every bit of color had been drained from their lives, but for the little bits they could create, and even those were quickly consumed. Jin looked over the six boys living together with him, boys he loved more than anything else in this dull place. Another familiar thought entered his mind: _I need to get them out._

~

They had all been alone in the world before they were brought here on the promises of food and shelter and happiness. The food and shelter had been provided. The happiness was yet to be seen, but it was that hope they clung to.

Jin was the oldest, the first, the failure. He had been through the same processes the others were, had failed the same tests over and over until the people in charge had given up and moved onto the better ones. He wasn’t even sure why he was still here. There had been others over the years that like him had fallen short of their expectations and they were gone.

Maybe they felt he still had something more. Maybe they had just forgotten about him.

The door to their room opened again along with a three toned bell, the signal for dinner. Six boys got off their beds, stretching their limbs from sitting still for so long. Hoseok remained where he was. Jin sighed, waving at Namjoon and Yoongi to go on ahead while he approached Hoseok’s bed.

“Hobi. It’s time to go eat.”

“Not hungry.” His voice was rough and gravely. _For sleep,_ Jin told himself.

Jin climbed up onto Yoongi’s bed so he could see Hoseok. The other was still mostly under the blankets, but he’d turned to face the rest of the room with his face uncovered. His eyes were red and his hair was sticking up in every direction. “Hoseok, you need to eat. If you don’t know, it won’t be until morning.”

“I’ll eat then. I just want to be alone.” He made to turn over, but Jin grabbed his shoulder. “Hyung. Please.”

“You shouldn’t be alone all the time, Hoseok. It’s not good for you.”

Hoseok didn’t meet his eyes, didn’t even look at his face. “It’s better for everyone else. It’s safer. I don’t want it to happen again.”

“It was an accident.”

“It still happened!” Hoseok snapped, eyes sparking with rage before realizing what he was doing. He moved back towards the wall, out of Jin’s reach. Tears had already formed in his eyes, glistening in the harsh light. “Hyung, just leave me alone.”

Jin took a deep breath, wondering what he should do. “I’ll try and bring you back some food, okay?” It wouldn’t be allowed, they both knew.

“Thanks, hyung,” Hoseok said anyways.

“It’ll be okay,” Jin repeated the same thing he’d said to Jungkook. The words sounded hollow. Hoseok laughed. That sounded hollow too. “Get some rest.”

The oldest left the room, glancing back at the lump that was Hoseok. It was hard to believe that he’d once been so happy and full of life. A brilliant splash of color that brightened every room he entered. Of all the things they’ve done, Jin thought, that was the cruelest.

~

Dinner was as bland an affair as the walls. It was designed for their health and strength, not for taste. Jin hated it, but ate anyways. There was a sort of weird bread that tasted quite like cardboard. It was a bit better when the strange tan paste was put on in it, but it was still pretty awful. They ate the same thing for every meal. It was agreed that they’d been cheated on the promise of food.

Hoseok’s meal sat untouched between Taehyung and Yoongi. They served seven meals whether all seven boys went or not. Back when they had each first joined, they had reached to take part of a missing member’s meal, only to receive bruised knuckles from one of the guards’ baton’s. The guards were always nearby, standing by the wall except for when they were in their room.

Talking was allowed, but rarely happened. The atmosphere was always choking when the guards were there. So they ate, and then they left.

“I wish there was something we could do,” Jungkook said as they were walking back to their room. The way was lit by a line of yellow lights overhead, guiding them through identical hallways that still made no sense to even the ones who had been there the longest. The halls changed and rooms moved. There was no other way it could be explained, even if they couldn’t explain _how_ that happened. “It’s so boring.”

“Like what?” Namjoon asked. They’d had this conversation multiple times before but there was little else to talk about.

Jungkook shrugged. “Games, I guess. Like cards. We could do a lot with a deck of cards.”

“Yeah,” Taehyung agreed, slinging an arm over Jungkook’s shoulders. “We could try and build a house of cards and see who gets the highest.”

“Jin probably,” Yoongi spoke up from the back of the group.

Jin rolled his eyes. “Ah, no. I’m not that good at those kinds of things.”

They had reached their room. Hoseok was still in the same position, to Jin’s disappointment, but then again they hadn’t been gone that long. Maybe he’d fallen asleep.

The group grew quieter again, but not silent. Pillows were brought down to the floor as they sprawled in a large circle. Yoongi was laying on his back, pillow under his head while Jimin rested his head on Yoongi’s stomach. Taehyung and Jungkook were leaning against a bed, sitting close enough that they were constantly brushing against one another. Namjoon was sitting next to Jin against the bed on the opposite side of the room.

“You okay?” The younger asked.

“Hmm?” Jin was startled by the question. How he himself was doing, wasn’t something he often concerned himself with. “I’m fine. Of course. What about you?”

Namjoon frowned. “You’re always doing that, you know. You’re so concerned about us, that you forget that you’re a person too. It can’t be easy being stuck in here alone all day. What do you do?”

“Worry.” The honest answer slipped out before he knew it. Namjoon’s eyes grew more concerned. “It’s not that big a deal, Namjoon. I’m fine. I sleep most of the time anyways.” That was at least partially true. He could ignore the terrible dreams of none of them coming back to the room. It wasn’t important.

He wasn’t important.

The other let the subject drop for now. “Hoseok’s not getting any better has he?” he said as quietly as he could. Namjoon glanced up at the bunk where Hoseok still laid. “Isn’t there anything we can do? He isn’t even trying in any of the tasks. I think the guys in charge are starting to angry.”

“He needs time. It’s been really hard on him.”

“I know, but what if…”

He didn’t need to finish that sentence. What if they decided Hoseok wasn’t useful anymore? Jin may have been ignored, but Hoseok had been doing so well up to that point. He wouldn’t be allowed to hang around like the ghost Jin had become.

“He’ll be fine,” Jin stated as firmly as he could. “He’ll be back to normal before you know it.”

_Were his words always this hollow?_

 


	3. Chapter 3

 Jungkook whimpered, struggling against the straps that help him in place on the table. The light overhead was blinding, all he could see was the vaguest of shadows of people over him. Something metal glinted, long and sharp.

It was a needle, he realized belatedly, when it was being forced into this skin. Whatever was inside made its way into his body. It _burned._ Jungkook wondered if they’d injected pure fire into his bloodstream, because that was it felt like.

Someone was screaming. _Oh, it’s me,_ he thought. The pain kept him from thinking too much. He knew his body was thrashing around, but the restraints kept him from escaping the pain, not that he could. Maybe it really was fire, and he was burning alive. Not a moment after he’d thought that, then it was followed by ‘then maybe I’ll die soon.’

Everything was growing dark. Someone leaned over him, flashed a light in his eyes, said something quietly. All Jungkook could hear was his screams. The light kept growing dimmer until everything went black.

 _I’m dying,_ Jungkook thought. _Finally._

~

Jungkook woke up from the dream drenched in sweat and panting. The room was dark, the other six people in the room still asleep.

 _Five,_ he corrected, watching Taehyung climb down from the bed overhead, silent as vines growing up a house. The older boy crawled under the covers with Jungkook, pulling him close. “Go back to sleep, Jungkookie. It’s just a dream.”

The youngest nodded, breathing already slowing back to normal. He laid on his side, burying his face in Taehyung’s chest. He could feel Taehyung’s heartbeat, slow and steady and strong. Jungkook focused on that, counting the beats, until he fell back asleep.

~

Taehyung was gone when he woke up the next morning with the same annoying buzzing sound they heard every morning. Jungkook stretched, bones popping, when he stood up. The others were also in the midst of waking up, flattening their hair with fingers and grumbling. The door leading to breakfast was already open.

Jin wandered over to Jungkook. “You okay, Kookie?” he asked, reaching up to smooth his fingers through the youngest’s hair. “You had another nightmare last night, didn’t you?”

The younger blushed, pushing Jin’s hands away. “Did I wake you up?”

“No. But I can always tell.” Jin smiled, looking more like a mom to Jungkook than any woman had ever looked. “Go eat. Tae’s waiting for you.” He turned away, heading towards to Hoseok’s bed, where he was stubbornly refusing to get up.

Jungkook hovered, wondering if maybe he could help coax the other boy down. He was getting worried about his hyung, even though the others were doing their best to act like nothing was wrong. Hoseok had lost a lot of weight since the accident along with his ability to smile. Jimin clung to his arm then.

“Jungkookie, let’s go to breakfast!” He was far too chipper for someone who had just woken up. The back of his hair was sticking up and he was smiling too widely for it to be real. Jungkook let himself be dragged from the room and down the hall, but not before he caught the sound of Hoseok shouting something that was _just_ too distant for him to understand.

~

They were back at the same test again for what felt like the thousandth time. Jungkook had been informed that it was only the twenty third, but that didn’t change anything. He took a deep breath, focusing in on the target. It should be easy. He just had to get across the room and destroy the target. His hyungs passed this easily enough before him.

The light turned green and he darted forward. Platforms expanded from the walls and floor. He leapt nimbly onto one, and then the next, and the next, bouncing off a moving section of wall to do so. This part was easy. As he got closer, the target had begun to move erratically. The ground beneath him was still shifting and a portion of the ceiling was descending quickly, so he was forced to move again.

He was closer now. It should be easy, even with the target moving. Jungkook concentrated, felt the heat gathering in his hand until it was practically burning. He brought his arm up to release the energy-

And it blew up in his face.

Jungkook was thrown back, falling off the platform a few feet to the next one and getting the wind knocked out of him. The floor and walls stopped moving, slowly sliding back to normal. The young teen sat up, gasping for air that didn’t seem to reach his lungs. As he rolled onto his hands and knees, his vision blurred with frustrated tears.

_Why did that keep happening? Why couldn’t he control it like he was supposed to?_

Overhead, a voice announced: “Attempt twenty three failed. Dismissed while room resets. Return back for attempt twenty four.”

He wiped the tears from his eyes as he stood, putting on a blank expression when he lowered his arm. A door had opened in one of the white walls, a blue light flashing as it waited for him. He walked towards it slowly, aching slightly from his fall. At least he hadn’t seriously injured himself like yesterday. _Jimin was watching too,_ he recalled, ears turning pink.

His leg still twinged now and then, but he could ignore it. Whatever had been done to them had accelerated their healing so it’d probably be perfectly fine by tomorrow evening if not sooner. He entered the room to find Hoseok sitting up on his bed with Taehyung.

The younger of the two smiled when Jungkook entered. “Kookie! How did it go?”

Jungkook shrugged, not wanting to think about his failure any more than necessary. He kicked of the weird slipper-like shoes they were given to wear before climbing onto the bed with them, leaning heavily on Taehyung. “What are you two doing back so early?”

“They were just doing basic skills with me, so I just got back,” Taehyung replied. “I don’t know where Jin is though.”

The youngest looked around, noticing that the mom of the group had in fact disappeared. Hoseok bit his lip, avoiding looking at the other two. “Hyung? Where’d he go?”

“Dunno.”

“Hoseok hyung, where’s Jin?”

Hoseok still couldn’t bear to look at either of them. “He- uh- he went to be tested.”

Jungkook frowned. “I thought they weren’t testing him anymore.”

“They aren’t.” The older boy finally looked up at them, eyes pained and serious. “He went to mine.”


	4. Chapter 4

Yoongi scrunched his nose, wanting to scratch an itch, but his hands were busy clicking the buttons on the two joysticks. The helmet covering his head and part of his face was in the way as well, not to mention it was hot _,_ which led him to sweat, which led him to be itchy.

Which is why he hated these stupid reaction tests.

The green dot appeared to his right and he clicked the right button almost instantly. A red dot to his left this time and another right click. And on it went. There was a blue one at one point, which threw him off, as he hadn’t been given instructions on how to respond to it, so he just clicked both at the same time.

After what felt like hours of colored dots and clicking, he was allowed to remove the helmet. He ran his fingers through his sweat dampened hair. He followed the blue lights back to the room, barely even paying attention to the halls. Yoongi swore he kept seeing green and red dots out of the corners of his eyes.

When he got back to the room, he found two very alarmed kids and a stressed out Hoseok. “What’s going on?” was his first question. His second was: “Where’s Jin?”

“That’s the problem,” Taehyung said. “He went to Hoseok’s testing for him!”

“What?” Yoongi rounded on the younger, who was trying his best to fade into the wall. “Why?”

Hoseok was visibly shaking, either from fear or something else, Yoongi couldn’t be sure. He couldn’t be sure of anything having to do with Hoseok anymore. “I didn’t _want_ him to. He just said that he would go. Since I hadn’t been eating…”

That was very like something Jin would do, looking after his ‘kids’ as much as he could even if he risked his life. Yoongi could see why Jin wouldn’t want Hoseok going anywhere though. The younger had lost a lot of weight, looking more like a skeleton than even when he’d first arrived. Maybe he was shaking because he was so weak at the moment.

Yoongi sighed. _If only Jin was here,_ he thought with a quiet chuckle. “I’m sure Jin’ll be fine. He’ll come back before you know it. Go lay down, okay?” Yoongi said to the youngest two. “Take a nap before your next task.”

When they had gotten into Jungkook’s bed, curled together in a cute ball, Yoongi tugged Hoseok to sit on his own bunk. “Listen, you have to start eating.”

Hoseok looked down at the ground. “I know, hyung. I just- I feel sick just thinking about eating.”

“So do I, but I do it because I have to, and will you, okay?” Hoseok nodded slowly. “We need you with us, Hoseok. Do it for the kids, okay? It’s our job to protect them.” Another nod, this one a bit more confident. They watched the two teens sleep for awhile, until Hoseok’s head had sunk on Yoongi’s shoulder and he was snoring softly as well.

Yoongi gently guided him back to lay down on his bed. Surrounded by their soft, steady breathing, Yoongi sat and watched the door, praying to a God he didn’t know that Jin would be okay.

~

Namjoon arrived back. For a moment, Yoongi thought it was Jin and leapt to his feet, making it to the door before realizing his mistake. He relayed what happened to Namjoon there in a quiet whisper, glancing back often to make sure everyone was still asleep.

When he was done, Namjoon had grown pale. “What an _idiot,_ ” he muttered under his breath. He sat down on Jin’s bed, bringing his knees up to his chest to rest his chin on them. Yoongi sat beside him and continued his waiting.

Lunch was announced with the same buzzing sound. Jimin had just been about to entered when the door opened. Jin still hadn’t returned. The meal was even quieter than normal somehow. Hoseok ate with them, though he picked at his food until Yoongi glared at him.

They were divided up again to go to their different tests. Yoongi and Taehyung were together today, while others were all by themselves. Even Hoseok had a task, despite Jin not having returned from his morning one. Yoongi felt like his stomach was twisting into an ever tighter knot, and the other’s expressions told him they felt the same.

It was a simple test, one they’d done several variations of before. Taehyung attracted the ‘enemy’s’ attention while Yoongi dashed to behind it, retrieved the object, and ran back to safety. It took a few tries to get their timing and tactics right, and both gained their fair share of bruises. Sweaty and exhausted, they were dismissed back to the room. Taehyung walked slowly, trailing behind his hyung while nervously fiddling with his shirt.

“Taehyung, hurry up or I’ll leave you behind,” Yoongi warned.

The younger looked up at him, his handsome face twisted in worry. “What if hyung isn’t back yet?” he asked, deep voice going even lower.

Yoongi ruffled his hair and managed a gummy smile. “He’ll be there, don’t worry.” The walk back seemed to stretch on for far longer than they had walked earlier. When Yoongi spotted the door ahead, he felt his stomach lurch with fear, though he was careful not to give it away to Taehyung.

They approached their room, ears straining for any sound that would indicate that Jin was back and safe. There was nothing. Yoongi stepped ahead of Taehyung, pretending to be more confident and rounded the corner, eyes scanning the room in a moment.

“Jin!”

Taehyung pushed past his short hyung to leap onto Jin’s bed where the other was just barely waking up from a nap. The oldest winced when Taehyung landed on him, but smiled anyways, hugging the skinny teen. “What’s up, Tae-tae?”

“We were all worried about you,” Taehyung whined with a pout. “Why’d you go to Hobi’s test? Are you okay? What did you have to do?”

Jin shook his head with a tired smile. He placed a kiss on Taehyung’s forehead. “I’ll explain later when the others are back, okay? Right now, hyung needs sleep.”

The younger nodded, rectangular smile breaking across his face. “Can I sleep with you?”

“Of course.” Jin lifted the covers so he could wiggled underneath them. “What about you, Yoongi?”

The boy in question had been lingering just inside the door, relieved that Jin had come back. He didn’t want to even think about what they’d have done if Jin wasn’t there. He shook his head. “I have my own bed.”

Jin nodded, snuggling down under the blanket with Taehyung. His eyes met Yoongi’s for a brief moment, sending a message. Something had happened when Jin was gone. Something bad.


	5. Chapter 5

It wasn’t until hours later that the other four had returned to the room. Jungkook and Jimin both reacted in the same way Taehyung did, leaping onto the older boy and practically smothering him with hugs and affection. Namjoon beamed even as he nearly collapsed to the ground with relief at seeing the older. Maybe now Jin would realize that he was just as important to them as they were to him.

Hoseok, returning last, burst into tears when he saw Jin, dashing over and sobbing into Jin’s shirt. It was a while before they could calm him down with many hugs and gentle words. Even after that, he continued to cling to Jin’s side and apologize for being stupid. Jin would chide him, saying that he went because he wanted to and it was no one’s fault but his own.

“So what did happen?” Jungkook asked. “Did you do his test? Did they punish you?”

Jin chuckled. “No. Nothing really happened to be honest. When I got to the end, the door wouldn’t open to let me in. And then the lights turned off so I couldn’t find my way back for the longest time. I’m sorry I worried all of you for nothing.” He laughed again, but it sounded fake to Namjoon. When he glanced at Yoongi, he could tell the other felt that there was more to it than that.

The three youngest had their fun with Jin that evening, teasing him about getting lost. Jin eventually chased Taehyung around the room and over beds with a pillow, threatening to smother him if he didn’t shut up while Jungkook and Jimin were dying of laughter on the floor.

~

Namjoon awoke to someone shaking his shoulder. The room was still dark, but he could just barely make out Jin’s face from the dim lights. “Hyung? What’s going on?”

“Shh.” Jin gestured for him to sit up. It was then he noticed Yoongi standing in the far corner of the room, waiting. “I need to talk to you.”

He followed Jin over to the other. “What’s going on?” he whispered, overly aware of the sleeping boys in the room.

“Something happened when you were wandering around, didn’t you, hyung?” Yoongi said, perceptive as ever.

Jin nodded. “I found one of their control rooms.” The other two boy’s eyes widened. “They were watching Jungkook test and talking about how it wasn’t going to work.”

“What’s wrong with him anyways?” Yoongi grumbled. “It shouldn’t be that hard.”

“His powers… explode,” Jin answered. He shook his head. “Either way, whatever they were trying to do with him didn’t work and they’re gonna-” he cut off, bringing up a hand to cover his mouth. “The- they’re giving him one more chance to succeed, and if he doesn’t…” Jin trailed off. The tears in eyes glimmering in the soft light.

“He won’t come back.” Yoongi leaned back against the wall, looking shell shocked. His jaw tightened and he clenched his hands into fists. “They’re not gonna fucking take him.”

“What can we do though, hyung?” Namjoon asked. His mind, usually so sharp and quick, was stalling. They couldn’t lose Jungkook. He was still so _young,_ barely more than a kid. He should be more worried about acne and girls instead of any of this shit. “We can’t exactly make him stay here.”

“We can leave.”

The two younger boys stared at Jin. “What?”

“We’re going to escape. Tomorrow. Before we all separate. We’re going to break out and leave and never come back.” Jin grew more confident in his words as he spoke. His shoulders were straight and he looked tall and almost scary. “All of us. Understand?”

Namjoon nodded without thinking, noticing that Yoongi did the same though he still looked doubtful. “Do you have a plan?” the youngest of three asked, hopefully.

“Escape.”

Yoongi groaned. _“Jin. Are you kidding me?”_

The oldest glared at him. “Yoongi, I am your hyung. And that’s why I woke you up. We need to come up with a plan.”

“No shit.”

“Yoongi.”

“Sorry. No shit, _hyung.”_

Jin rolled his eyes but let it drop. “Anyways, I thought that it would be best to escape when we’re in the hall…”


	6. Chapter 6

Taehyung woke instantly when the morning buzzer went off. He sat up, yawning widely. Next to him, Jungkook was still dead to the world, frowning at the loss of Taehyung’s warmth. He ruffled the younger’s hair and got out of bed.

Jin and Namjoon both looked more strained than usual as they walked around to make sure everyone was getting up. The oldest smiled when he saw Taehyung was awake, reaching up to flatten the younger’s bedhead for him. “You’re such a good kid, Taehyung.” He turned to the very much oblivious boy sleeping in his bed. “Unlike someone.”

“Good luck, hyung~” Taehyung sang, moving away from the scene. Jungkook woke up on his own half the time, but the other half was always a bit of a battle. Jimin was trying to coax a snoozing Yoongi out of bed, while Hoseok watched. Well, it was more like Jimin was trying to see how much he could get away with annoying the short man before Yoongi got up.

Jimin giggled, poking at Yoongi’s cheeks, muttering about how swollen his face was this morning. The older’s face was scrunched up like it did when he was irritated. He swatted at Jimin’s hand, missing as the younger was able to jerk his hand back fast enough. “Go ‘way,” Yoongi grumbled, rolling over to face the wall.

“You have to get up, hyung. It’s time for breakfast.”

“I’m not eating any more of that shit.”

“Don’t swear, hyung,” Namjoon advised as he passed by to help Jin with Jungkook. “Jin hyung will punish you.”

Yoongi twisted in his bed to glare at the younger. “I’d like to see him try.”

“I heard that, Min Yoongi.” They all turned to find the oldest of the seven glaring at them while half supporting a sleepy Jungkook. “You want me to?”

“No, hyung. Sorry.” Yoongi got out of bed and stretched. He avoided looking at Jin even though the older had turned away. He pulled Jimin under his arm, noogying his hair. “What were you saying about my face, kid?”

“Nothing, hyung!” Jimin wiggled out of his grasp, fleeing to hide behind Taehyung. Taehyung giggled and helped fix his hair back in order. And then messed it up again, just to hear Jimin whine and pout cutely. He squished the other boy’s chubby cheeks, cooing over how cute he was.

By then, they had managed to get Jungkook mostly awake. He was standing on his own at least. Jimin giggled, clinging to the youngest’s arm. Jin led the way out. Except that he wasn’t following the yellow lights overhead, turning the opposite way instead.

“Hyung?” Taehyung asked, looking down the hall they were supposed to go. “Where are you going?”

Namjoon nudged him forward after Jin. “Just go, okay? Stay close.”

“What’s going on?” He looked back at Yoongi, who was going last. “Hyungs?” Jungkook had woken up fully by now, confused at what was going on. Jimin looked terrified, hanging onto the youngest member even tighter.

“Just _go._ We don’t have much time.”

Hoseok grabbed Taehyung’s hand, pulling him forward after Jin, who hadn’t slowed at all. Jin wasn’t sure exactly which way he was going. The halls had changed again, but he figured if he just kept going left, they’d reach the window he saw yesterday again. The first time he’d seen sunlight in years.

They hadn’t gotten far when sirens suddenly blared and red lights began flashing all around them. “Run. C’mon!” Jin shouted, sprinting ahead. They all followed him. They passed a door just as it was opening and a guard was coming out. Namjoon sent him flying back into the room with a quick shove, keeping Jungkook and Jimin ahead of him and Yoongi.

The sirens were nearly deafening and Taehyung could barely hear what Hoseok was shouting as the older pulled him along. Jin suddenly stopped short. Ahead of them was a wall of guards carrying riot shields and batons. When Taehyung looked behind them, there was another wall. They were trapped without any hope of escape.

“Jungkook!” Jin shouted, turning to the youngest one desperately. “You have to blow up the wall.”

Jungkook looked terrified, eyes wide and bunny-like front teeth gnawing at his bottom lip. “I can’t. I can’t control it. I’ll hurt someone.”

The guards were closing in on them. Jimin was nearly in tears at this point, holding onto Yoongi for dear life. “Jungkook, please.” Jin placed on a hand on his shoulder, ignoring the danger closing and focusing entirely on Jungkook. “You’re all we have right now. You can do it. For us.”

The youngest looked around at the others before nodding. He motioned for them to stand behind him as he faced the wall. The guards were nearly on top of them at this point. He raised his hands and bright scarlet fire bled out of them, floating through the air as fast lighting to strike the wall.

The resulting explosion turned the world dark.


	7. Chapter 7

Jimin coughed, trying to sit up but something heavy was laying on top of him. He tried to shove it aside but then it groaned and he realized it was Yoongi. “Hyung?”

“Are you okay, Jimin?” Yoongi sat up, looking dazed. Dust floated in the air around him as they lay in a pile of rubble. Most of the blast had gone out or to the sides, luckily, but it was still enough to knock all of them back. However, none of that mattered because in front of them, where the wall had once stood, there was only a giant hole and beyond that… Beyond that was _outside._ There was a grassy field and a blue sky and fresh air.

“Hyung, look,” Jimin whispered, amazed at it all.

Around him, the dust was being to settle and the other boys were sitting up. Taehyung like him was taken aback by the sudden sight of the outside world, but the other four were more focused on escaping than staring.

“Jungkook! Jungkook, you did it!” Jin shouted, picking up the boy from where he had been thrown back by the explosion. Only Jungkook wasn’t responding. “Jungkook?” He felt for a pulse at his neck, sighing in relief when he found one. The oldest lifted the teen into his arms, heading for the hole he’d created. “C’mon. We’re not out yet.”

Jimin stood up, only now realizing that the alarms were still going off and there was the distant sound of running coming from the halls. Yoongi led him out while Namjoon and Hoseok were helping Taehyung, whose leg was bleeding from being hit with shrapnel.

They ran as fast as they could across the field. There was a high chain link fence, but with a flick of his wrist, Taehyung had vines growing up and tearing a hole in it for them to wiggle through. Beyond that there were trees and the shade felt cool and nice and Jimin just wanted to stop and lay down and soak everything in.

“We need to keep going,” Yoongi reminded him when Jimin started to slow down. “We’re not far away enough. We’ll enjoy it later okay? When we’re safe.”

The younger nodded, picking up the pace again. Jin was still carrying Jungkook. The youngest gave no sign of being conscious and there was blood beginning to drip down from his forehead and across his cheek. Jimin hoped that he would be alright, that they’d all get away from this safe and sound and then they could be a real family.

The seven ran for what felt like an hour until they reached a gravel road. Jin hesitated before going out into the open space, looking both ways. “Should we follow it?” he asked, looking at the others.

“We should keep heading straight away from the compound,” Yoongi offered. “They’ll have already sent out cars to try and head us off.”

Namjoon shook his head. “But this could lead us somewhere. To civilization or something. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure we can’t survive in the woods for very long.”

“We can manage a few days at least,” Yoongi argued.

Jin nodded. “We’ll focus on getting as far from here as we can first. Taehyung can make us fruit if need be. Right?” The teen nodded, though he looked rather pale from running on his injured leg. “Everyone in agreement?”

The five of them nodded, figuring it was the best plan. Jungkook was still out cold. Jin helped get him onto Namjoon’s back, taking over the younger’s job of helping support Taehyung. They crossed the road quickly, only realizing now that they were shoeless when the sharp rocks bit into the soles of their feet. Jin cursed under his breath for not telling them all to put on those slippers they were given. They wouldn’t have been too protective but it would have been better than nothing.

Taehyung and Hoseok had just gotten across and past the first few trees when they heard the sound of a car engine. They ducked down behind the bushes, terrified. A few more moments passed while the vehicle grew closer and then it zoomed past and began fading away.

“Let’s go,” Jin said, helping Taehyung to his feet. They kept moving, at a slower pace than before to conserve energy. The forest stretched on and on after that and Jimin wondered if perhaps going this way was a mistake and they were going to get terribly lost and die out here in the middle of nowhere.

Yoongi gripped his hand firmly in his then, squeezing it once without looking back at the younger. _No,_ he thought, _they weren’t going to die out here. They’d survive together._

One way or another.


	8. Chapter 8

Jungkook hurt. There wasn’t a specific place where it hurt and he wouldn’t say the pain was sharp. He ached everywhere. With a soft groan, he tried to sit up, but found that his head hurt more when he did, so he remained laying on his back. His bed felt a lot harder than normal. Had something gone wrong with his training and he had been taken somewhere other than their room? Were the others worried? He needed to get back to them…

There had been an explosion, he recalled distantly. Someone had asked him to blow up a wall… Why? He focused on the memory harder. Jin? Had it been Jin? That couldn’t be right. Why would Jin ask him to blow up a wall?

There were quiet voices talking somewhere and then something cool was laid on his forehead. “Jungkook? Are you awake?”

It was Jin’s voice he knew. Slowly he opened his eyes. The room was darker than normal. Where was he? There were tiny lights over head on the weird looking ceiling….

“Hyung? Are we outside?”

Jin chuckled, running a hand through Jungkook’s hair. “Uh-huh. It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” He turned his head and noticed tall trees towering around the small clearing they had found. The other five were huddled over to one side, talking as they laid on the grass. Grass… Jungkook curled his fingers into the stalks, amazing at the feeling. “How…?”

The older laid down next to him, admiring the stars high above. “We escaped, remember? You blew a hole in the wall and we ran away. We’re free now, Jungkookie. You did it.”

Jungkook let that soak in for a few minutes. There were sounds all around him that he hadn’t heard in ages. Crickets, birds, the wind rustling the leaves. It was _amazing._ The world blurred as tears welled up in his eyes, overwhelmed as he was.

“Shh, Kookie. It’s okay.” Jin wiped away the few tears that had leaked down onto his cheeks. “Take a deep breath, that’s it. It’s a bit much to take in all at once, isn’t it?”

“I’m so happy, hyung.”

Jin smiled, white teeth visible in the dim light. “Yeah. So am I. Get some rest now. We have a long day ahead of us and you’re hurt.”

“Good night, hyung.”

“Good night, Jungkook.”

~

It was early when he woke up again, pre-dawn judging from the greyness of his surroundings. He sat up, finding that his body hurt less than it had the night before. He scanned the immediate area, but everything was still. Jin was asleep on the grass next to him, at peace in his dreams. A couple feet away the others were sprawled out. Namjoon was snoring. Yoongi’s head was resting on Jimin’s stomach. Nothing was wrong.

So why was his heart pounding with adrenaline?

Suddenly, there was a white flash of movement within the trees in the corner of his eye. He jerked around in time to see the guard duck behind a tree. “Hyungs!” Jungkook shouted in alarm as he struggled to his feet. “They found us!”

The six boys jerked awake, but the guards already had them surrounded. They closed in again as the boys stood back to back in a tight circle. “What do we do?” Taehyung asked. The grass under his feet was dying quickly because of his panic. “Hyung?”

“Fight back,” was the only answer Namjoon had for him.

No sooner than he had said it, then the men surrounding them charged forward. Before they knew it, many of them had been forced onto their knees, hands over their heads in surrender. Jungkook was still too weak to fight back and the others were panicking, unsure of what to do. Jimin was the only one left standing, backing away from the few guards that were busy holding down the others.

He couldn’t breathe. Just last night they had been happy and free after being in that compound for so long. They could finally control their future. And now they’d go back to being caged like animals again. If they weren’t killed, that is.

“Jimin!” Jungkook shouted suddenly. “Fight back! You can do it!” The man guarding him raised his baton to hit him over the head-

And then went flying back and hit a tree with a resounding thunk.

Jimin looked down at his outstretched hand in surprise, as if unable to believe that he’d done that. Confident now, he turned his attention back to the three that were closing in on him and _glared._ The men hesitated for a moment and that was all they needed. Jungkook got to his feet, leaping onto the guard holding Taehyung. Jimin sent one the men attacking him flying back. Another one grabbed his arm and raised the baton to strike him, and would have, but for the vines that grew up his legs at an alarming pace. He let go of Jimin and started tugging at the dark green plant to no avail. Another of the men in white was beating at the air around him as if trapped in an invisible box under the silvery-grey gaze of Namjoon.

One by one each of the guards were thrown back or trapped. Yoongi was zipping around punching and tripping the poor suckers unable to be seen and any blow that should have landed on Jin simply went through him. Hoseok was practically dancing around a guard, dealing out blows gracefully while dodging anything thrown his way.

Panting, the seven stood in the clearing surrounded by unconscious men. “Well, that’s not exactly on my top five ways to wake up,” Yoongi noted, kicking at one. “Let’s get out of here. Before more arrive.”

The rest agreed and they took off into the forest again, joyful at their victory and hoping that’d be the last time they ever saw someone from the facility. 


	9. Chapter 9

It wasn’t until the sun was high overhead that they stopped next to a small river. Exhausted, they flopped onto the banks, panting and wiping at their sweaty faces. The water was cold and refreshing and =the seven boys spent an hour resting there and drinking. Taehyung managed to create a few apples for lunch. It wasn’t as filling as any of them wanted, but Jungkook pointed out that at least it tasted better than the weird bread and paste they were given.

“We should keep moving,” Namjoon reminded them after a while. He eyed where Yoongi was laying in the shade of a tree on the very edge of falling asleep. With minimal grumbling, they continued their journey.

The sun was setting when they heard something strange. “Is… is that dog?” Hoseok spoke up after a few moments of all of them straining their ears.

“They could be tracking us like that,” Namjoon stated, looking around for either the dog or an escape route.

Taehyung shook his head. “It sounds like a regular dog. Maybe someone lives around here.” He brightened, smiling. “We can get help!”

“And food,” Jungkook added.

“Let’s not rush into this, okay? Let’s find out if it’s safe first and then we’ll worry about getting help,” Jin said.

“And food,” Jungkook added.

Taehyung threw a left over apple at him.

~

Yoongi and Namjoon were selected to go and investigate the dog while the other five hung back. Namjoon tried to be as stealthy as possible, but it seemed that no matter how carefully he placed his steps, the loudest possible branch would break under his foot. The shorter of the two was annoyed at both how _loud_ Namjoon was and how incredibly slow he was being. Yoongi just wanted to get there, find out if it was safe and get back to the others.

“Just step where I step, Namjoon. And try to keep up.” They moved a bit faster after that. Except with Namjoon focusing so much on stepping where Yoongi did, he often walked into branches or got caught in vines. “Why are you like this?” Yoongi asked after he helped Namjoon up for the third time.

Namjoon’s face was flushed with embarrassement. “I am trying, hyung.”

“You’re too mental,” Yoongi stated, poking the younger’s forehead. “Stop thinking so hard and get moving. Or do you want to try finding the others in the dark.”

“No.” Namjoon straightened up, determined. “Okay. Let’s go.” His cheeks heated up again. “I, uh, I mean, after you, hyung.”

“You’ll make a leader, yet,” Yoongi joked with a snort.

They reached the source of the sound almost immediately after that. A small cabin was nestled between two small hills. They approached it from the back and could see the large garden that had been carefully tended to. The dog they’d heard was sitting on the back porch at the feet of an old man sitting in a rocking chair, gazing at the sunset over the trees. Namjoon could just barely see an old truck parked under in the shed off to the side of the cabin and the road that led away from the front. There was another wooden building he could only see the roof of, but he thought it might be a barn of some sort.

“Think it’s safe?” he whispered.

Yoongi shrugged. “He doesn’t seem dangerous or affiliated with the facility.” He crept a bit closer to get a better view and his foot snapped a twig. The dog lifted his head in their direction even as the two ducked down. “Think he saw us?”

“We should check.”

“Hang on.” Yoongi almost imperfectively seemed to vanish and reappear. “The dog’s coming, but the guy doesn’t seem too concerned.”

A few moments later, the dog, a large brown mutt, came barreling through the bush they were hiding behind. He sniffed at the two of them. Namjoon held out his hand and scratched the dog’s ears, earning a lick on the cheek. “Well the dog doesn’t seem to dangerous.” The old man whistled and the dog went bounding back with a happy bark. A wooden door creaked open and then closed with a loud bang.

“Let’s get back to the others.” Namjoon risked one more look at the cabin. “At the very least we can get some decent food.”

“You mean steal it.”

“Just a little. For the kids, at least.”

“We’ll see what Jin says.”

The trek back seemed to go a lot faster, perhaps because Namjoon was less worried about how much noise he was making. Jin heard them coming before they arrived and was waiting for them along with Hoseok. Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook were asleep curled up together.

“Well?” Jin asked. “What’d you find?”

“There’s a cabin with an old man living in it. We didn’t see anyone else, so I’m guessing he lives alone, but we really didn’t get the chance to really be able to tell,” Namjoon reported. “I think it’s worth the risk of at least trying to get some help. Or some food, if nothing else. We can’t keep moving like this on just apples.”

Hoseok nodded. “It can’t hurt to try.” Jin still looked unsure. “Hyung, we need food. The kids can’t keep up at this pace without a decent meal.”

Jin sighed. “Fine. But we need to be on our guard and have a plan in case something goes wrong. Understand?”

“What could go wrong, hyung?” Yoongi asked with a laugh.


	10. Chapter 10

Taehyung was excited. For the first time in years, they’d finally get to meet someone who wasn’t part of the facility, who didn’t want to test their limits or smacked their wrists for wanting more food. The older boys in the ground seemed more apprehensive and cautious about the whole thing, Jin even saying that it might not even be worth the risk, but Taehyung wouldn’t let that dampen his mood.

“Think about it, Jungkook,” he said. “We might be able to eat actual food. Like meat! And sweets…” He was nearly drooling at the thought. “Maybe he’ll be really nice and give us new clothes and help us find somewhere to live and we’ll be safe.”

“If he wanted to help us, he’d probably report us to the government and you three will be put into the foster system,” Yoongi said. “Don’t get lost in your dreams, Taehyung.”

Namjoon frowned at him, putting a comforting hand on Taehyung’s shoulder. “Don’t be so mean, hyung.”

“I’m just being realistic.”

“Well, reality sucks,” Jungkook said firmly. Yoongi laughed.

They reached the cabin and hesitated at the edge of the woods. “I’ll go first and see if it’s safe,” Jin said. “If it is, I’ll wave to you.”

“And if it’s not?” Jimin asked.

“Then he’ll be running out of the house.” Yoongi chuckled, ruffling Jimin’s hair. “He won’t exactly be hanging around to give us a signal if the old man is coming at him with a hatchet or something.”

“Technically, he could,” Hoseok said, adding to the conversation. “It’d just go through him, so it’s not like a hatchet’s that big of a danger.”

“ _Anyways,”_ Jin snapped to get their attention back. “I’ll be going now. If anything seems wrong, get out of here and keep heading in the same direction. I’ll catch up so don’t worry about me.”

“That’s like asking you not to worry about us,” Jimin argued. “Of course we’re gonna worry about you if we don’t know what’s happening to you.”

Jin stared at him for a few seconds as his face turned slowly pink. “Jimin-”

“Are you going or not?” Yoongi snapped. “Honestly, it’s like you have no idea how much the rest of us give a shit about you. Now get us some food.”

“Wow, ruin the moment,” Jungkook deadpanned as Jin turned and marched away into the open space between the woods and the cabin. “Hyung, have you no feelings?”

“Shut up, Jungkook.”

~

Jin made his way carefully through the garden, not wanting to step on any of the plants by accident. He hadn’t even reached the porch when he heard the dog barking. The back door opened and the dog bounded out, leaping up onto him, tongue licking at Jin’s cheeks. Jin nearly fell over at the sudden weight of the animal.

“Jack, down,” came a stern voice. The dog lowered its front paws back to the ground. Jin looked up at the old man staring down at him from the porch. His hair was silver and his face lined, but that was all that gave away his age. His body was still muscular and unbending under the weight of time. Certainly not what Jin had pictured when Yoongi and Namjoon had called him old. “Who are you and what do you want, kid?”

 _Kid?_ Was Jin’s first thought, insulted before realizing that compared to this man, he really was just a kid. The second thought was to panic, because _why hadn’t they bothered to come up with a story to explain why seven kids were wandering around the woods in identical white outfits?_ “I-I, um. I need some help?”

The man tilted his head to the side. “I think you do to. Are you lost?”

“Yeah.”

“How’d you get way out here? Were you with your parents camping or something?”

“Not exactly…” Jin couldn’t help but glance around, feeling far too exposed just standing there.

The old man noticed his nervousness. “Are you in some kind of trouble?” Jin nodded. “Come inside.”

Jin hesitated, looking back at where the others were waiting, unsure if it would be better to check it out himself first or have them come now. He didn’t get the feeling that this man was a threat to their safety. More than likely, they were more of a threat to him. “I kinda have some friends... can they, um…”

“You swear you’re here only because you need help?”

“Of course.” Jin was shocked by the bluntness of the question. It seemed like something Yoongi would say (and then not believe the answer, but that was neither here nor there.) He waved at them to tell them to come. Slowly, they emerged from the woods, bright in the dusk light with their white clothing.

“Were you part of a cult?” the old man muttered as he watched the other six make their way through the garden. “Oi! Watch my cucumbers there!” Jimin jumped at the sudden shout, stumbling into Yoongi and squashing a cucumber in the process. The old man sighed, shaking his head, but spoke no more of his produce.

The old man surveyed the seven boys standing before him. They were dirty and thin and some looked more terrified at seeing him than any normal person should be. Others looked defiant, as if daring him to do something against them or order them to leave. “All right. Come on in. Might as well get you cleaned up and fed first.” He paused as he was turning away, eyes directly meeting Jin’s before he added, “I expect a full story afterwards though. Understand me?”

Jin nodded and they entered the cabin. 


	11. Chapter 11

Inside it was warm and cozy. With the seven fairly large teens, it was cramped, but it was good. Better than the facility. Here there was color and decorations, simple as they were. It felt like someone _lived_ there instead of just existing.

There was only one shower, so it took a while for them to each wash up and by the time Jin, the last one, the water was icy cold. The old man washed their dirtied white uniforms and lent them a change of clothes.  They were too big for Jimin and Yoongi, and too short for the long legs of Taehyung and Namjoon. Jin, Jungkook, and Hoseok were better off, though Jin wasn’t particularly fond of the plaid.

Dinner was stew and the boys wolfed it down with plenty of happy groans at the amazing taste. The old man chuckled at their reactions as he set down a basket of bread and went to refill their bowls. “You’d think you’d all have been starved for months the way you’re carrying on. ‘S just stew.”

“It’s amazing,” Jimin said, rubbing his now full stomach. “So good. I’m in heaven.” His eyes had begun to droop, and he wasn’t alone as Jungkook and Taehyung both looked ready to fall asleep where they were sitting on the floor.

“Let’s get the young’uns to bed and then we can have a nice chat,” the man advised, noticing their almost comatose state. Jin and Namjoon led/ carried the youngest three up to the man’s bedroom where they were to share the large bed. Jin felt bad for kicking the man out of his own bed, but he had insisted, saying that one night wouldn’t hurt and they looked like they needed it more. Yoongi and Hoseok assisted in washing dishes and getting the small living room set up so the other four could sleep there. (The old man would be sleeping on a small couch in the den.)

Finally, the four oldest boys and the old man were sitting around the dining table, mugs of tea in their hands. The room was silent for a few moments, no one entirely sure where to begin.

“Where did you come from?” The old man finally spoke up.

The boys looked at each other nervously, unsure of how to explain. Jin took a deep breath and spoke. “We were in a facility together.”

“Facility? Like a cult?”

“Like one where they performed experiments.”

“On what?”

Another nervous exchange of glances. Yoongi took a gulp of tea. “On us. They experimented on us.”

“Oh.” They all took a drink after that. Jin was nearly sweating from anxiety. What if he thought they were too dangerous to stay? What if he kicked them out? “So you escaped?”

“Yeah,” Namjoon said. “Yesterday.”

The stranger looked alarmed at that. “So it couldn’t have been that far away. I don’t know of any sort of _facility_ like that around here.”

Jin shook his head. “We can run pretty fast for a long time, so we’re probably about fifty or so miles away by now. Maybe farther.”

“So what? The experiments they did gave you all super speed or something?”

“No. Just me,” Yoongi said. “We all have increased speed, strength, and stamina though. Better reactions too.”

It was silent for a while longer until the man spoke again. “How did you get there? Were you kidnapped or raised there or what?”

“We were all homeless when they picked us up. When you’re starving on the streets, you’ll do pretty anything for food,” Jin answered

“Even be experimented on?” he asked in disbelief.

Yoongi frowned at him. “We didn’t know what was going to happen. We didn’t know when our next meal was. _If_ there was going to be a next meal. Don’t fuckin’ judge us. You don’t know what it’s like.”

“Yoongi,” Jin scolded.

“It’s fine,” the old man said. “I’m not judging you. It’s just shocking that someone would experiment on _kids._ What kind of person does that?”

“It works better on teenagers,” Namjoon said. “At least that’s what I could tell. It’s why the kids have stronger powers.”

“Powers?” He was beginning to look faint. “Stronger ones?”

“They can control them well. No need to worry,” Jin said with smile.

The man sighed, downing the rest of his tea. “None of you have anywhere to go, do you? No family, or anything?”

Jin shook his head. “We didn’t have anyone before. Right now, our only plan is to get as far from the facility as possible and find somewhere safe.”

“I can’t give you much, but I can point you in the right direction.”

The oldest boy beamed. “That’s all we want. You’ve done a lot for us already.”

The old man stood up, ears just the tiniest bit red. “Well, it’s late and you lot have had a tiring day. Best get some rest. See you in the morning.”

There was a chorus of goodnights before the boys left for the living room. The four snuggled under the blankets they’d laid out. “He’s a nice guy,” Hoseok said after the light had been turned off. “I’m not sure I would have taken in seven strange kids from the woods.”

“Yeah,” Yoongi sighed. “But it’s a good thing he did. Otherwise who knows where we’d be sleeping tonight.”

“On the ground,” Namjoon stated.

“We’re still sleeping on the ground.”

“We’re not sleeping at all,” Jin reminded them. “Quiet down. We need to rest.”

“Yes, mom.”

“I don’t need your sass, Namjoon.”

“Sorry. Goodnight hyung.”


	12. Chapter 12

The boys awoke to the sizzling sound of bacon and eggs cooking on the stove. The three youngest had already come downstairs and were out in the front yard playing with the dog Jack. Hoseok could hear them laughing loudly and calling back and forth. It was good to know that they at least could be so care free.

It was probably the first time in years that all of them had gotten a good night’s sleep without being plagued with nightmares or unable to sleep for the distant memories that haunted them. Jin was chatting happily to the old man about where they might go after this.

Breakfast was a pleasant affair as they ate outside, watching the sun rising higher of the trees and the birds flittering around in the trees. Namjoon and Yoongi were more wary of the outdoors, having spent most of their childhood in the city. Taehyung hadn’t experienced it before their escape either, but with Jungkook and Jimin beside him, didn’t seem to mind it as he chased after squirrels, the dog hot on his heels.

“It’d be nice to live in a place like this, don’t you think?” Jin mused out loud. “Lots of open space like this without any people.”

Yoongi huffed. “Yeah, and then someone comes up in the middle of the night and kills us all.”

“We literally have super powers, Yoongi. You really think someone can kill us?”

Namjoon looked nervous at the thought. “You don’t think that would really happen, do you, hyung? It’s just a thing that happens in stories and movies. Right?”

“It’s not likely,” Hoseok said. “I mean, the guy here doesn’t seem to have any problems with it and he doesn’t have superpowers.”

“Just because it hasn’t happened to him, doesn’t mean it won’t happen to us,” the short man continued to argue. “He didn’t escape from some weird lab in the middle of nowhere.”

Jin sighed. “I didn’t mean that we’d be settling into some place in the woods next week. I meant when we’re safe. Like in a couple years after we get used to life out here.” He leaned his head on Namjoon’s shoulders. “It’s just that it’s so peaceful here. I like it.”

“It’s too quiet,” Yoongi grumbled quietly, but let the topic drop. It was pointless to discuss at this point anyways. They were still broke with no sort of identification and no where to go, not to mention the possibility that they were being hunted even at that very moment weighing them down even more. “Where are we going after this?”

“There’s a small town a little ways down the road. We’ll have to change clothes there somehow,” they had changed back into their now clean white uniform, “since we stick out too much like this and then we’ll try to hitch a ride to a larger city.”

“And then?” Hoseok wanted to know.

The oldest boy shrugged. “We’ll get jobs, I guess. Find somewhere to live. Maybe get the kids into a school, or something. I’m not sure yet.”

“You think we can do it?

“We’ll find a way.”

~

The time to leave came all too soon. The old man gave them a paper with a couple contacts he had in town that might be willing to help them, and an address of an old friend in a nearby city that might be able to give them work when they got there. “Be safe, alright? Don’t take unnecessary risks and stay together,” the stranger advised. “As long as you have each other, you’ll do just fine.”

“We’ll always be together,” Jimin said, almost indignant that he would even think that they would split up. “We’re a family.”

The man smiled at him. “That’s good to hear, but not all families stick together.” He seemed incredibly sad at the thought. “Good luck to you all.”

“Thank you for your help, and for feeding and sheltering us,” Jin said, bowing. The other six followed his example, bowing as they chimed in with their own thank you’s.

The seven set off down the side of the road, sad to leave but excited at the new adventure that was just beginning. It took them an hour to reach the edge of the small town, though it was more a tiny collection of buildings and a few houses. _The facility was bigger,_ Hoseok thought.

“Should we all go in? Or just a couple of us?” Jin was debating. “If we all go, we’d stick out more. I’d rather we not be noticed, in case…” In case they were still being followed. He didn’t have to finish the thought for them to know. “I’ll go. Namjoon and Yoongi, too. Three should be good.”

Jungkook pouted. “I want to go. Why don’t you let us do anything?” he asked, gesturing to Jimin and Taehyung as well. “We’re not _that_ much younger than you.”

“But-”

“It’s not that bad of an idea, hyung,” Namjoon said. “If we have Jimin with, it’d be easier to…”

Jin frowned. “I’d rather not make any of the kids into criminals. Particularly when they’re still under age.”

“I don’t mind,” Jimin said. “If it’s to help everyone, then why shouldn’t I?”

“Because you’re just a kid. What if we get caught? They’ll have to investigate you at the very least, and you’ll be taken away to who knows where.”

Jimin crossed his arms. “Then we won’t get caught. C’mon, hyung. I feel like I haven’t been able to do anything.” He looked up at the older one with his best puppy eyes.

Jin could practically feel his will melting away at the sight. “ _Fine._ But only this once. If I tell you to leave and go back here, you do it, agreed? No matter what.”

“Okay!” Jimin was beaming, happy to selected.

“Alright. Namjoon, you stay here and keep an eye on them with Hoseok. We’ll be back in an hour. Hopefully.”

“Way to bring the mood down, hyung,” Yoongi remarked. “We’re gonna be fine. We probably won’t even have to steal anything.”


	13. Chapter 13

They had to steal everything. Jin felt sick at the thought even they were doing it. He slid through the back door of the shop and turned to unlock the deadbolt from the inside to let Jimin and Yoongi in. They were quick to grab a couple backpacks and stuff them with clothes they were sure would fit at least of them, food that would keep for a couple days, and whatever else seemed like it’d be good to have, like a small pocket knife or a box of matches.

Yoongi was the fastest, naturally, getting three backpacks loaded up in the time it took for Jimin and Jin to do one. Jin was zipping the bulging bag closed when they heard the telltale sounds of someone approaching the back room.

They made for the exit as the doorknob was turning. Jimin held the door closed with his power, buying them enough time to get out of the store and part way down the street safely.

“Don’t you think we’ll look weird carrying all these?” Jin pointed. Yoongi had one of the bags on his back with the other two in each hand. “Considering we just walked through town with nothing. Someone’s bound to notice.”

“What if Yoongi runs them all out to the other’s first? And then we can see about getting a ride to the city after that without having to carry all the stuff around.”

Yoongi sighed, already feeling exhausted from the running he was going to have to do. “Why’d we have to bring him along?” He roughly ruffled Jimin’s hair with affection. “You too clever kid.” He stretched his arms upwards, loosening his muscles in preparation. “I’ll run these three back and then come back for those two, so stay here. It shouldn’t take too long.”

He hoisted the two backpacks into his arms again and then vanished with nothing but the soft wind rushing over them. Only a few seconds passed by before he was back again, his face a little red and just the tiniest bit out of breath. Yoongi took the two other backpacks wordlessly and left again. “There,” he said when he returned once more. “That’s all taken care of.”

“There should be a bus station up the street,” Jin said, conferring with the paper he’d been given. “I’m not sure how we’ll get tickets though. We don’t have any money and I don’t feel comfortable stealing that.”

The other two nodded in agreement. Food and clothes were one thing. Money just seemed to be on a whole other level of bad that they didn’t want to reach.

“Maybe we could stow away or something,” Jimin suggested. “Oh! We could have Namjoon make them think we all have tickets!”

Jin nodded. “That’s a good idea. We’d need to have a sample one for him to see though. Otherwise he won’t know what to make them see.”

“We should have brought him along.” They’d reached the bus station now and were looking at the schedule. “Then we could have lifted one off someone, had him look at it, and then put it back before they noticed.”

“Yeah. But,” Jin said, pointing at the schedule, “the next bus for the city doesn’t leave for another three hours, so we have time to go and come back with him.” He looked around at the empty platform and the booth where the tickets were sold. There was an ‘out to lunch’ sign on the window. “Do you think someone would notice if we had tickets that no one here sold to us? All we’re not exactly known here, so us showing up out of the blue…”

Yoongi brushed him off with a wave of the hand. “We’ll still have tickets, as far as they’re concerned. They can’t stop us from getting on.”

“Do you think they’ll have a scan thing though?” Jimin suddenly blurted out. “Namjoon won’t be able to fool that. I mean, they’re just illusions.”

“He make it look like it scanned though.” Jin paused. “Maybe. Let’s get back to the others and see what they think.”

The three of them hurried back to the spot where they’d left the others. The four had changed into some of the clothes Yoongi had delivered to them and were rummaging through the rest. Namjoon looked up when he heard them approaching. “Well? What’d you find?”

“There’s a bus that leaves for the city in three hours, but we’ll need tickets and we don’t have the money,” Jin said. Jimin went over to Jungkook and Taehyung and began sorting through the clothes to find an outfit for himself. “We thought maybe you’d be able to make them think we have tickets.”

Namjoon thought about it for a few moments. “If I see one beforehand, I might. It shouldn’t be too hard, since they’ll be expecting us to have them if we’re trying to get on a bus.”

“It might also be a little less suspicious if we split into smaller groups,” Hoseok said. “If we pair up and have one group of three, it should attract less attention than a group of seven guys traveling together. As long as Namjoon isn’t too far away from where the tickets are being taken, we should be okay.”

“Splitting up?” Jin asked, clearly disapproving of the idea.

“We’d just seem like three separate groups, that’s all. If we stand a little ways apart, show up at different times, not talk to each other, sit at different places on the bus. We wouldn’t really be split up.”

Jin nodded. “That does sound a lot better. It shouldn’t be too hard. I think it’d be best if one of the older ones go with a younger one. Just in case we do actually get split up.”

“I’ll go with Jimin,” Yoongi offered just as said boy was returning from behind a few bushes where he’d changed into jeans and t-shirt.

Taehyung, having just caught the tail end of their conversation, thrust his hand into the air. “I call Hoseok hyung!” Hoseok managed a smile at him in return.

“Then that leaves me and Namjoon with Jungkook.” Jin nodded, pleased with how things had worked out. He was afraid there would be an argument.

“Ha ha, Jungkook has to go with mom and dad,” Taehyung teased the youngest. He pinched at Jungkook’s cheeks while the teen swatted at him.

“Kids, that’s enough,” Namjoon called.

Jin sighed. “Stop messing with each other. Can’t you play nice?”

“This is why we call you mom and dad, you know,” Yoongi said, leaning back on the grass.


	14. Chapter 14

The time until the bus would arrive seemed to pass by slowly. One of the things they’d taken from the shop was a watch, which Jin now wore on his wrist. He kept checking it every few minutes, terrified that it would suddenly be too late and they’d have to wait an entire day for the next one. It was ridiculous to worry too much about it so much, as Yoongi pointed out when he’d gotten annoyed of Jin’s constant looking at his wrist. All Jin was getting out of it was a sore neck and worry lines.

Taehyung was messing around with the flowers he was forcing to grow from the ground, twisting the stems together to make chains which became necklaces and crowns for all the boys. Jin and Hoseok happily accepted their crowns, while Yoongi whined about it being stupid and girly until Jimin was wearing one, only then did he accept the one of small purple flowers Taehyung had crafted. Jungkook was laying off to the side of the group, dozing in the shade with his head resting on Namjoon’s lap.

“I think it’s time to go,” Jin said when the time finally came. “Everyone get ready.” The five backpacks were packed as evenly as possible and everyone except Jungkook and Taehyung had one. They set off into town, sticking close together at first until they were in sight of the bus station. “Alright, Namjoon, Jungkook, and I will go first. Yoongi and Jimin are next. You two need to figure out how to get a ticket to Namjoon and then return it. After that, Hoseok and Taehyung, you follow. Understand?”

They nodded. The first three set off together. Jungkook was practically vibrating with excitement, looking around curiously at everything. “This is so exciting, don’t you think, hyung? It’s like we’re on a secret mission.”

“I suppose we sort of are.” Namjoon chuckled. “But if we were, you’d be giving us away. You’re a bit obvious, kiddo.”

Jungkook flushed, looking forward again. “Sorry, hyung.”

“Relax. It’s not like anyone’s around to really notice,” Jin said. It was true. The streets were surprisingly empty except for the occasional person that walked by without giving them a second glance. “I wonder if there’ll be anyone there with a ticket for us to look at…” It hadn’t occurred to him that that was a possibility.

Namjoon bumped his shoulder with his. “Don’t worry so much, hyung. We’ll be fine. The plan’s good.”

There was a single person waiting at the bus station: a tall dark haired boy of about college age. There was a large suitcase sat at his feet as he messed with the phone in his hand. Jin could just barely see the white slip of paper under his fingers where he was holding it against the back of his phone. “How are we going to get _that?”_

“A distraction,” Jungkook said. “Someone could make a big distraction somewhere and Yoongi hyung will take it and return it before he even realizes.”

“But he’s _touching_ it.” Jin ran a shaking hand through his hair. “What are we going to do?”

By then, Jimin and Yoongi had arrived and noticed the problem as well. They were standing on the other side of the guy, exchanging nervous glances with each other. Yoongi suddenly pointed out something to Jimin and before Jin could figure out what, a metal trash can across the street had tipped over onto a car, causing the alarm to go off.

The guy startled at the sudden noise and that was when Yoongi moved, slipping the ticket out from under his hand, rushing across to shove it in front of Namjoon’s face. Namjoon quickly looked at both sides of it before handing it back to Yoongi. Yoongi ran back across to where Jimin was waiting, leaving the ticket drifting down to the ground in front of the college guy. With a sigh, he leaned over and picked it back up.

The owner of the car turned off the alarm a minute later, loudly bemoaning of the damage the trash can had caused. Taehyung and Hoseok arrived in that time, watching the scene across the street curiously.

The bus was late, arriving a few minutes after the scheduled time. The college guy was going on first, with Namjoon right behind him to see what would need to be done so he could make the process seem to repeat with each of them.

Jungkook stood between him and Jin, biting on his thumb as he tapped his foot anxiously. Jin, feeling the same anxiousness, reached out to take his hand, squeezing it. Jungkook squeezed it back, holding on until it was his turn to pretend to feed his ticket into the machine under the watchful eye of the driver. It went smoothly and then it was Jin’s turn. The driver didn’t even blink as Jin passed his hand uselessly over the thing and turned to sit in the front row next to Namjoon. Jungkook had sat in the seat behind the two.

Namjoon kept his attention focused on the driver as the other four got on, all taking seats in various places on the bus. Yoongi and Jimin went to the very back, while Taehyung and Hoseok were sitting in the middle. There were only a couple other passengers aboard with them, which Jin was glad for.

The driver shut the doors and checked that everyone was sitting in the mirror before pulling away from the curb. Their journey to the city and their new lives was now officially under way. 


	15. Chapter 15

“You tired, hyung?” Namjoon asked after a while of them driving along. For the most part, the bus was silent except for the very quiet chatter between Hoseok and Taehyung. “You can sleep on my shoulder if you want.”

“I’m fine.” In truth, he was tired, but he doubted he could sleep. Nerves had his belly twisted in knots. _What would they do when they got to the city? What if they couldn’t find work and ended up back on the streets? What if he failed to take care of everyone?_ Jin couldn’t handle the thought of failing the boys that he’d cared about for so long, couldn’t handle the thought of them hating him for it, of them leaving him. “You can sleep if you want.”

Namjoon sighed, putting an arm around Jin’s shoulders and forcing him to rest his head on Namjoon’s shoulder. “You’re not much use to us half asleep on your feet. You worry too much.”

“So I’ve been told.” Jin could hear Namjoon’s heartbeat and feel the warmth rising off the other. It was nice. “I can’t help it.”

“You could let the rest of us worry too. You don’t have to do everything by yourself.”

“I want all of you to be happy though.”

“We can’t be happy if you’re not happy.” Namjoon kissed his hair. “We care about you just as much as you care about us.”

Jin’s eyes were beginning to slide closed without his permission. Even the noisiness and jerky movements of the bus couldn’t keep him awake much longer. Namjoon was surprisingly comfortable to sleep on, with his hand smoothing up and down his side, relaxing the muscles there. Jin fell asleep.

~

“When do you think we’ll arrive?” Jimin whispered to Yoongi beside him, peeking over the top of the seat to look at the rest of the passengers. Well, the backs of their heads, anyways.

Yoongi already has his eyes closed, prepared to nap. “I don’t know. When we get there, I guess.”

The bus started moving and Jimin was practically shivering with excitement. “What do you think it’ll be like in the city?”

“Noisy. Dirty,” was Yoongi’s short reply.

“Do you think—”

“Jimin, hyung is asleep right now. Save your questions until the waking hours.”

“You don’t have waking hours, hyung.” Jimin giggled when Yoongi opened his eyes to glare at the younger. “You sleep too much.”

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

“Do not.” Yoongi was growing more annoyed now.

“You do. There’s no logical reason you should feel the need to sleep as much as you do.” Jimin poked his cheek. “You’re cute when you sleep though, so it’s okay.”

Yoongi grabbed his finger before Jimin could jerk away. “I’m not cute. And saying that you think I’m cute when I sleep is creepy.” He released Jimin’s hand. “And I don’t sleep that much. I just sleep _often.”_

“Whatever you say hyung.” The younger boy leaned his head against the window watching the world fly by while Yoongi slept beside him.

~

“This is so exciting!” Taehyung was struggling to keep his voice down as he pressed his nose up to the glass. He stared at the small farms they passed, the seemingly endless fields of corn and beans and cows that were separated by sections of forest. “I can’t believe we’re actually doing this. I keep feeling like I’m going to wake up and we’ll all be back in the facility and—”

“Tae, calm down,” Hoseok laughed. He pulled the younger away from the window to sit properly (and to let him see outside as well). “Honestly, you’re like a little kid at his first festival.”

“I’ve never been to a festival. Not a proper one anyways.” Taehyung looked around the bus, found that boring, and returned his attention to the outside world. “There was a little one that happen a few blocks from the orphanage, but I didn’t have any money, so I couldn’t buy anything or dress up. The food smelled nice though and the games looked fun.”

Hoseok patted his shoulder. “Once we get settled down and know we’re safe, I’ll take you to one and we’ll get all dressed up and play all the games and eat tons of food, okay?”

“You promise, hyung?” He held out his pinky finger.

The older boy linked it with his own pinky. “I promise.”

~

Hours later, after the sun had nearly vanished below the horizon, the bus began to slow and tall buildings loomed ahead of them. They had arrived.


	16. Chapter 16

The city was exactly what Yoongi had expected. It was loud and bustling with people. It was cramped and dirty. And above all else, it stank. A heavy putrid scent of exhaust and metal constantly hang in the air. It was home.

Hoseok and Jimin both crinkled their noses in disgust upon disembarking from the bus, looking around unhappily and the cold greyness of the buildings and people around them. “Are you sure this is where we want to go?” Hoseok asked, clearly uncomfortable at the idea of staying here.

“It’ll just be for a little while. And we’ll probably be living more on the outskirts. It won’t be so bad.” Jin led them out onto the busy streets, the seven of them struggling to stay together as they were jostled around. Jungkook was clinging tight to Taehyung.

It didn’t take them too long to find the address by some miracle and some actually helpful directions from a person they met on the street. It was a hotel, looking large and grand compared to anything any of them had seen before. The seven of them stood staring up at it for a few moments in awe before Jin straightened his shoulders and marched through the front doors, the rest trailing after.

He went up to the counter to request to talk to the owner, a man by the name of Kwon Jiyong, while the others hung back, sitting on the comfortable couches that were strewn about the large lobby. There was a restaurant towards the back and the most wonderful smells were drifting over them. Taehyung’s stomach growled loudly right before Jin waved for them to follow him.

There was a brief and very cramped elevator ride to the very top of the building where Jiyong’s office was. There was a waiting room when they exited the elevator and an attractive secretary typing away at her computer before two glass doors that to the actual office. The secretary barely looked up at them. “Mr. Kwon will be with you in a few minutes. Have a seat.”

They sat. Well, most of them sat while Jin and Namjoon were both left standing due to a lack of chairs. Namjoon walked over to the window, looking out over the city. Everything was quiet but for the steady typing of the secretary.

The elevator dinged, making all the boys jump. Out of it walked a tall man wearing an expensive looking black suit. His dark hair was styled away from his handsome face. A silver cross dangled from his left ear. Dark eyes scanned over the boys and, for a moment, Yoongi thought that he would sneer and send them away, but instead he smiled. “So you’re the boys my father sent to me.” Jin opened his mouth to speak, but Mr. Kwon held up a hand. “Please, let’s go into my office and talk.”

Beyond the glass doors was an elegant office. Artwork was placed on the walls, except for the fourth which was completely made of glass, giving a stunning view of the city glowing with its nightlife. His desk was of dark wood, smooth and solid, with nothing on it. Mr. Kwon sat behind it, his back to the wall of glass. “So, to start with, tell me your names and ages.”

“I’m Kim Seokjin,” Jin began. “Twenty one.”

“Min Yoongi. Twenty.”

“Jung Hoseok. Nineteen.”

“Kim Namjoon. Eighteen.”

“Park Jimin. Seventeen.”

“Kim Taehyung. Seventeen.”

“Jeon Jungkook. Fifteen.”

Mr. Kwon smiled at him. “Ah, you really are just a kid, aren’t you?”

Jungkook flushed pink, flustered at the attention. “We were told that you would be able to help us find work here,” Jin said, stepping slightly in front of the youngest.

“Of course, of course. I can always use help around the hotel. It might not be anything too glamorous, but it’ll have good pay and I’ll even throw in room and board. It’s a better deal than you’ll get anywhere else.” Mr. Kwon sat back in his chair, observing them with amusement. “Well?”

“What kind of work would we be doing?” Namjoon asked. “Nothing illegal right?”

The man sitting behind the desk laughed. “Of course not. What kind of business do you think I run? There is a level of _discretion_ that must be abided by, as we often deal with the rich and powerful, but nothing more will be expected of you other than what one might expect for a hotel employee.”

Jin met each of their eyes, getting a subtle nod from each boy. “Alright. You have a deal.”


	17. Chapter 17

“Wonderful,” Mr. Kwon said, completely unsurprised. “I’ll have my assistant take you down to where you’ll be staying and have someone bring you a nice meal. Training will begin tomorrow so please get a good night’s rest.” He pressed a button hidden in the surface of his desk and a door opposite of the ones they’d entered through opened. A younger man with bleached white hair stepped through. “Seungri, help them settle in.”

Seungri smiled at them. “It’s nice to meet you. Follow me, please.” He led the way back into a narrow hallway where another elevator was. “This is the employee elevator, which is what you’ll be using most of the time. It’s the only one that goes into the basement or to this floor.” They got in, finding that it was roomier, if more plain, than the other.

“What’s it like working here?” Jimin spoke up. He was standing on the opposite side of the elevator, mostly hidden behind Namjoon and Jungkook, so Seungri was confused at who spoke.

“It’s interesting. You get to see a lot of celebrities up close. Some of them are kind of rude though.” He paused, thinking of some past incident. “It can be pretty boring at times. And hard, I guess. You’ll start off with the easy jobs behind the scenes at first, so you don’t have to worry.”

The elevator arrived at the basement, opening to a long hallway with doors at regular intervals. “This is the employee’s quarters. A lot of us have apartments of our own somewhere else so they’re pretty empty at the moment. Lucky you. No noisy neighbors. Any of the ones without name cards on the doors are empty, so you can choose which ever ones you like.” He led the way down the hall to the very end where they entered a large room half filled with shelves with black and gold uniforms on them. “Here’s where you get your uniforms. There’s a large basket over there where you put the dirty ones to be washed. And then over here,” he pointed to the other half of the room, which looked like it was from a professional cooking show, “is where you can prepare all your meals. The hotel provides the ingredients, but you have to cook it all yourselves.”

The boys exchanged nervous glances. They didn’t know how to cook. Jin hoped a cookbook would also be provided by the hotel. Or, even better, access to the internet.

“I think that’s about it for now,” Suengri said. “I’ll back at six in the morning tomorrow to hand out your assignments for the day, so please be ready by then.” He waved as he headed back to the elevator. “Oh yeah, before I forget. Don’t go wandering around the hotel during waking hours. Just as a courtesy for the guests. Have a nice night.”

They all looked around the room for a few moments, taking it all in. “Should we go choose rooms, then?” Namjoon suggested. “And then get our uniforms sorted?”

“Can’t believe we have to wear a uniform again,” Yoongi grumbled, looking at said garments with disdain.

“At least these seem a bit nicer than the white ones,” Jin said brightly.

Yoongi shrugged and headed back to the hallway. There were only three rooms with name cards on the doors, spread out along the hall, two on one side and one on the other. The group peeked into the nearest room, curious to what it was like inside. It was a single room with a twin bed, dresser, and a tv, as well as a small, in suite bathroom. There were no windows, which none of them fancied, but they were below ground after all.

“We should take these seven down here at the end of the hall so we’re all close to each other,” Jin said. “It’s pretty far from the other person, so even if we get a bit noisy, they shouldn’t be bothered.”

“You just don’t want us too far away, do you, hyung?” Jungkook teased, elbowing him. “What a mom.”

“I call this one,” Yoongi stated as he flopped face down onto the bed. “Tell me when dinner’s ready. I’m gonna take a nap.”

Jin sighed. “Yoongi—”

“Me too, hyung!” Jimin jumped onto the bed next to Yoongi. “Ah, these beds are so comfy.”

Taehyung climbed on as well, spreading out his arms so one laid over Yoongi. “It is. I feel like I’m on a cloud.”

“Boys, we’re supposed to be picking out rooms and getting uniforms.” Jin shook his head as the three on the bed ignored him. He ushered the rest out of the room before they could join in. “Pick which ever one you want. Just stay close together.”

“Or Jin hyung will have a heart attack,” Jungkook giggled behind one hand. Jin glared at him the young teen quickly slipped into the nearest room.

Jin took the room nearest the kitchen while Namjoon selected the one next to that. There was a card on top of the dresser with a pen for them to place in the slot on the door. Once that was done, they went through the uniforms to find their size and selected a couple to keep in their rooms, along with the clothes they’d brought with.

Then Jin started to cook. 


	18. Chapter 18

The work was hard and tiring, and the people they dealt with even more so. They found good moments though, whether it was watching movies together in one of their rooms and laughing so loud one of their neighbors knocked on the door and shouted for them to shut up or eating Jin’s increasingly good cooking while sharing stories about their days.

During one of their explorations around town, the youngest three had found an abandoned train car in one of the less developed sections of towns. They fixed it up with a couple old couches and chairs, installed a small generator for a couple lights, and stocked it with snacks. The days off they had from the hotel were spent there and it slowly became more decorated as they collected things. Jackets and shirts were strewn over the backs of chairs and one of the walls was sloppily painted pale blue because Taehyung had found a half empty bucket of paint while roaming around the warehouses.

They had discovered their own fashion styles and even dyed their hair. Nothing unnatural as that would be too noticeable for hotel staff, but various shades of brown. Taehyung went with red. Yoongi was the one who stuck out the most with silver. The troublesome youngest boys had tried to get Jin to go blond, but he’d refused to go any lighter than a warm brown.

For a few months, life was good. They learned how to live in plain sight without anyone noticing them and to minimize their _specialness_ to where it could be considered normal, if a little above average.

Their extra abilities were largely ignored, though they still made a few appearances where they could. Yoongi cleaned rooms faster than anyone else. The lobby plants always looked so much healthier when Taehyung was on bellhop duty. Jimin could reach the tiniest spaces and much higher than anyone could have expected. No one seemed to notice Jin leave a room, almost as if he could walk through walls.

Their extra abilities were largely ignored, but for one day when they couldn’t be.

“Hyung!” Jungkook said, barging into Jin’s room without knocking. Jin, who had thankfully just finished putting on his jeans, looked over as the younger flopping onto his bed before pulling his shirt over his head.

“Need something, Kookie?” he asked, tone annoyed but there was no point in chastising Jungkook about not knocking. He didn’t listen and it was a waste of breath.

Jungkook picked at the bedspread, looking thoughtful. “Do you think it’d be a good idea for us to, um, well, use our powers?”

Instinctively, Jin glanced at the door, finding it shut. “What do you mean? Is something wrong?”

“Not… not _really.”_ The teen rolled onto his back looking up at the ceiling. “I just kinda feel a bit… antsy? Like the energy’s building up in me. Like when you stay inside for too long and you just wanna _run._ Kinda like that.”

“Hmm.” It had been a while since they’d properly used their abilities, which was a drastic change from using them daily while in the facility. And for Jungkook, who couldn’t use his powers at all, it would’ve been even more of a change. “It’s not a bad idea. We’ll have to find somewhere isolated to do it first and we’ll have to wait until we all get a day off together, but I think we can manage it.”

Jungkook beamed. “That’s great, hyung!” He leapt off the bed, hugging the elder quickly. “I’m so excited. I’m gonna go tell Taehyung.” The teen rushed off before Jin could get another word in.

~

It took a few days to find an ancient warehouse an hour outside of the city in the middle of the forest. The road leading to it was nearly entirely hidden and aside from a bit of graffiti, it would seem that no one had visited it since it was closed. It was Yoongi who had found it and they’d celebrated by dumping him into a bathtub. After that it was a matter of organizing when they’d go and begging fellow employees to cover their shifts for the day they’d chosen. Finally, two weeks after Jungkook had brought up the topic they were standing before the flat white building.

“Why’d I have to come?” Yoongi asked. “I don’t need the exercise.”

“Because it’s a family outing, hyung,” Jimin said with a giggle. He ran forward, leaping up to grab the top of the tall wire fence and dropping down on the other side. “C’mon.”

Jungkook and Taehyung laughed as they followed suit, even while Jin told them to be more careful. Namjoon chuckled, patting his shoulder as if to say ‘kids will be kids’ and then promptly did it himself. Except that somehow the section of fence he tried grabbing onto wasn’t as secure and it ended up falling inwards.

They laughed as the brunet got up, unhurt, but embarrassed. Yoongi smirked as he passed by, walking over the now flattened fence. “Well done, God of Destruction.”

“You okay?” Hoseok asked, even as he was still panting from laughing so hard. He was smiling again, a warm, heart shaped smile that had bloomed once more a few days after being at the hotel. It was a few more days before they heard his laugh again, but now it was like Hoseok had never changed. Most of the time. “You really are a klutz, aren’t you?”

Namjoon’s ears and neck had gone bright red, but his face had remained composed. “I’m cursed, hyung. Cursed so everything I touch is destroyed.”

“If only it would turn to gold. We’d be rich,” Yoongi said over his shoulder. “Now get a move on before the kids blowing something up.”

Jin laughed until he remembered that Jungkook could _literally blow something up._


	19. Chapter 19

Jimin had found an old bike abandoned in one of the large rooms and they were taking turns riding it around while the others chased. Taehyung was having his turn when they found the pool. It was drained and dirty looking, curse words painted on the walls, but it was deep and it gave Jungkook an idea.

“Taehyung,” he said. “Think you can create vines that could cover the top?”

“Like a trampoline?” Taehyung was excited at the thought but Jungkook shook his head.

“Like something that’ll catch us if we jump onto it.” He was grinning and Jimin could practically feel Jin’s mom senses going off somewhere in the building.

He looked at the door as if expecting Jin to appear that, as the elder always seemed to do whenever one of them (Jungkook) was plotting mischief. Lucky for Jungkook (and maybe not so lucky for them), Jin wasn’t there yet. “What’re you planning?”

“Just a little prank for the hyungs.” He turned back to Taehyung. “Do you think you can do it? It’d have to be a bit lower for it to work or else they’ll be able to see it.”

Taehyung stood at the edge of the pool, peering down at the gross cement floor. “Maybe…” He lifted his hands up, and dark green vines slithered up from the cracks in the pool, weaving in and around each other to form a shadowy net halfway down the pool. The second youngest swayed a bit, looking pale, and Jimin and Jungkook helped him sit. “Who wants to try it?”

Jungkook looked at Jimin. Jimin sighed. “If I die, I’m haunting you, Jeon Jungkook. You’ll never be safe.”

“I’m not safe from you now, so…” Jungkook shrugged and gave Jimin a little push. Just enough to knock him over the edge.

Jimin barely had time to feel like he was falling before he hit the thick layer of vines. It bounced slightly, which was unnerving, but it held him up. He looked at the two sitting on the edge watching him and gave a thumbs up. “Help me up.” Jimin walked to the edge of the pool and held his hands up.

The youngest had barely pulled him over the edge before Jimin sent him flying off, startling a shriek out of him. Taehyung and Jimin both laughed loudly, and Jungkook joined in too. Once he’d finished having a heart attack. Jimin helped him out and they figured out the rest of their plan.

~

“Jimin? Taehyung?” Jin called, roaming the halls and rooms, looking for the youngsters. “Jungkook, where are you?” He sighed, annoyed at not having kept a closer eye on them from the start. Choosing a smaller place would have helped as well, but beggars can’t be choosers. “Damn it, where are they?”

At that moment, he heard the sound of laughter, echoing from the empty walls. He followed it quickly to a large room with what appeared to be a dark pit. And the three youngest were there, Jungkook riding around on a bike they’d gotten from who knows where. At least they weren’t doing anything too dangerous-

Jungkook pedaled fast in a straight line, heading straight for the pit while the other two cheered him on. “Jungkook, don’t-!”

It was too late to stop him before Jungkook and the bike were soaring through the air over the pit and then crashing down. Jin ran to the edge. Only to find Jungkook grinning up at him as he laid on what seemed to be a net made of vines. The other two were laughing, coming up on either side of Jin.

“That was _great.”_ Taehyung was red faced from laughing so hard. “You should’ve seen your face. It was amazing.”

Loud footsteps announced the arrivals of Namjoon and Hoseok, drawn from Jin’s shout. “What’s going on?”

Jin shook his head, feeling very tired all of a sudden. Why was being a parent so stressful? “The kids are being mean to me.”

Jimin wrapped his arms around Jin’s waist, looking up at him with his cute puppy eyes. “Aw, c’mon, hyung. It was just a prank. We knew Jungkookie wasn’t going to get hurt.”

Taehyung joined him, cuddling up to Jin and looking as innocent as possible. “Yeah, hyung. We tested it out a couple times already. There’s no way he would have gotten hurt.”

The oldest looked away from them stubbornly. The two teens looked back at Jungkook who had just crawled out of the pit. He refused to look at them for a few moments before sighing, giving in. The youngest joined in on the group hug, looking up at Jin and whining, “Jin hyungie~”

“Ew,” came Yoongi’s snide remark from the doorway, but Jin was hugging them all back, cooing over how cute they were and how terrible they were to him. Namjoon came up behind the four and hugged them as well, quickly joined by Hoseok. “You’re all gross, you know that?”

“Get in here, you grump,” Jin ordered. Yoongi sighed like it was so much _effort,_ but joined the group hug all the same. “Ah, this is nice. But really hot. Seriously, get away from me. All of you.” Jin shook them off, breathing in deeply as he shook out his limbs. “Anyways, how’d you come up with this?” He walked over to the pool, looking down at the vine net.

“It was Jungkook’s idea,” Taehyung said.

Namjoon and Hoseok exchanged grins as they nonchalantly walked up behind Jin. And promptly shoved him off. Jin screamed and slid through the net. He popped up again, glaring at the two. “I hate you. All of you. I’m disowning you. Find a different mom. I’m leaving.” He walked over to the rusted ladder and climbed up and headed for the door. “I’d say it was nice meeting you all, but it wasn’t. Goodbye.”

“Jin, c’mon. Why’re you like this?” Namjoon clung to his arm, stopping him from walking any further.

“Go jump in the pit, Namjoon.”

“He’s not allowed to,” Jungkook spoke up. “He’ll break it.”

Jin snorted while Namjoon spluttered in his own defense. “Ah, I raised you well. For the most part.”

“What about the rest?” Hoseok asked.

The oldest boy shrugged. “I blame Yoongi.”

“Hey!”

“Go jump in the pit, Yoongi.”

Jungkook tsked. “Using the same line twice, hyung? Way uncool.”

There weren’t many things that Jungkook thought were likely to happen right then, but he knew for sure that Jin tackling him and them both falling into the pit of vines was not very high on the list.

They bounced a lot higher than Jungkook had the few times he’d landed on it before. Once the sudden fear that had gripped him faded away, he started giggling and could feel Jin do the same. Jin hovered over him, fingers finding their way to every ticklish spot Jungkook had, merciless until Jungkook had tears in his eyes and could barely breathe for laughing so hard.

When he finally let Jungkook go, the boy rolled away on to his side, gasping as he curled into a ball. “I feel so much better now. Maybe I’ll even forgive you.”

“Damn it,” Yoongi said. “I was going to nominate Jimin as next mom.”

“What are you talking about?” Hoseok asked. “ _You’re_ second mom. You get the role if Jin leaves.”

The squabble continued on like that and more people were pushed into the pit. Eventually, all seven were laying on the web of vines, staring at the ceiling. “This was a good idea.”

“Coming here or the vines?” Taehyung asked.

“They’re both my ideas, so what does it matter?” Jungkook said, feeling rather smug with himself. Yoongi scoffed and smacked his shoulder. “Second mom discipline doesn’t hurt.”

“Do you want it to?”

“Anyways. What should we do next? I haven’t been able to blow anything up yet.”

Jin sat up, thinking hard. “It’d be boring just to use our powers and go home. We should make a game out of it or something.”


	20. Chapter 20

They had left the pit to explore a bit more, trying to find something that they could use for some sort of a game. Jimin rode the bike out to the parking lot with Yoongi sitting on the handle bars. Yoongi hopped off when they reached it and Jimin did as well. “I want to try something.”

He held the bike up with his power while walking a few feet away. Jimin bit at his lower lip and concentrated on moving the pedals. Slowly they began to move and the bike rolled forward, wobbling slightly. Yoongi watched in amazement as the bike moved faster and more steadily, riding in circles around them.

“That’s so cool, Jimin!” Taehyung shouted. He’d just exited the building and was excited to see what Jimin had managed.

Of course, by shouting, he had broken Taehyung’s concentration and the bike fell to the ground with a loud clatter.

“Taehyung,” Jimin whined. “I had just gotten the hang of it too.”

Taehyung looked down at his feet. “Sorry. You can do it again though, right? It’s way cool, like the bike is haunted or something. Oh! I bet we could scare Hobi hyung with it.”

“Now there’s an idea,” Yoongi laughed. Bring him to the corridor just inside. We’ll be waiting.”

“Okay!” Taehyung ran off, shouting for Hoseok.

Jimin picked up the bike and the two boys hid in a little niche in the corridor with the bike standing perfectly upright in the middle of the hall. When they heard Hoseok and Taehyung coming back, with what sounded like others, Jimin began to move it forward, slowly and then gaining speed when he knew Hoseok had spotted it.

“What the fuck is that!” Hoseok screeched. “Why is it moving? Taehyung, what the heck is happening?”

“Hyung, it’s a ghost!” was Taehyung’s too cheery for the situation reply.

There was a sudden burst of red light and then bike was on fire, tires melting in long black lines trailing behind it. It became harder to move it and Jimin let it fall to the side as he leaned against Yoongi for support.

“Jungkook!” Taehyung shouted. “You killed it!”

Jimin could practically hear Jungkook shrug. “It’s a ghost. It’s already dead.”

“Not the ghost, dummy. The bike.” Yoongi and Jimin moved out of their hiding place now. “Jimin was the one moving. What kind of a ghost haunts a bicycle anyways?” 

“Maybe it was the ghost of someone who got hit while riding one?” Hoseok asked. His ears were red.

“Sure, Hoseok.” Yoongi rolled his eyes. “I’m sure lots of people who got hit while riding bikes came back to haunt a bike. Makes total sense.”

Hoseok ignored him. “You were the one moving the bike, right, Jimin? That’s incredible. You’re getting so good at controlling your powers.” He ruffled Jimin’s hair.

“I blew it up,” Jungkook mumbled, kicking the tangled mess of melted metal that formally was the bike. Hoseok chuckled, putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing lightly.

“You’re doing well too. You didn’t hit anything else besides the bike. Very well done.”

The youngest brightened at the praise before schooling his face back into disinterest. “Whatever. It’s not like it was that hard, moving in a straight line like that.”

Namjoon and Jin showed up then, a little out of breath from running. “Why was there screaming? Who was screaming? Is anyone hurt? I’m gonna have a heart attack because of you kids, I swear.”

“Jin, calm down. Baby Hoseok here just got a little scared.” Yoongi laughed as Hoseok glared at him, taking a threatening step towards the shorter and being held back by Taehyung. “Jimin did a cool thing with the bike, but Jungkook destroyed it, so we can’t show you.”

“Maybe we’ll find another one…” Jungkook said softly, looking away while scratching at his arm.

Taehyung shook his head. “Why would there be another one? It was weird enough finding that one.”

“You don’t _know_ that.” To prove his point, he walked off, planning to search all of the rooms in the hopes of finding a bike.

“It’s not that important…” Jimin looked like he wanted to go after the teen. “I’ve been thinking about trying it out before, so it wasn’t really that hard.”

“What were you doing?” Jin asked, curiosity piqued. He’d sort out Jungkook later when the younger had calmed down.

Yoongi was smiling proudly. “He was riding it around, but with his powers, you know?”

“That’s a really weird way to describe it, hyung,” Hoseok laughed.

“Then how would you describe it?”

“Um…”

“I think I get the picture,” Jin said placatingly, not in the mood for yet another argument. “It’s kind of getting late now, though. We should think about heading back soon. I don’t want all of us to be exhausted for work tomorrow.”

The younger two whined, begging to stay longer. Jin had to look away. “C’mon, hyung. Just another hour. I want to practice making flowers more.” Taehyung turned to Namjoon. “Joonie hyung, _please.”_

Namjoon looked at Jin, who shook his head. The younger grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, it wouldn’t hurt for a _little_ longer.” Taehyung and Jimin didn’t wait for Jin to say anything more before dashing off, yelping with joy.

“I’m disgusted with you, Kim Namjoon.”

“I’m sorry, hyung. But they’re too cute. I can’t say no.”

Yoongi and Hoseok were judging them hard. “You two need to stop taking the whole parent thing so seriously. It’s getting weird.”

“You don’t exactly help it any, Yoongi,” Jin snapped. He looked after where the two had just ran off. They could still hear the shouting. “Let’s give them half an hour and then head back. I was planning on making a nice dinner and I need a bit of time to get it ready.”

“What is it?” Namjoon asked. “Is that why you requested special ingredients?”

“It’s a surprise. Be patient.”

“And don’t go in the kitchen when he’s cooking.” Hoseok giggled loudly. “Else we won’t be eating anything tonight. Surprise or not.”

“Hey! Jin, will you tell them to knock it off for once.”

“They have a point though. You’re banned from the kitchen.”

Namjoon crossed his arms and pouted. “I’m always banned from the kitchen.”

“You’ve nearly set fire to it like seven times,” Yoongi pointed out.

“And?”

“And-“ his reply was cut off by an explosion that rocked the building. Dust floated down from the ceiling as they stumbled around, steadying themselves on walls. “What the hell was that?”

“Jungkook?” Hoseok offered.

Jin didn’t bother to question it first as he took off running through the walls in the direction of the explosion. The walls and rooms hurtled past him. He caught a brief glimpse of Jimin and Taehyung standing up from where they’d fallen when the explosion hit. They were fine at least, but where was Jungkook?


	21. Chapter 21

Jungkook coughed as he sat up, finding himself coated with gray dust amongst a pile of rubble. Sunlight entered the room through a giant hole in the roof that he was at least 98% sure wasn’t there a minute ago. That was where much of the rubble had come from, but the walls around him were damaged and crumbling as well. It looked like a bomb had gone off.

“Or maybe just me?”

Jungkook looked at his hands, the tiny cuts and bruises that now dotted them. Had his powers misfired somehow? It didn’t seem possible. He had always been able to control them, to keep the full force of it back inside him. Generally speaking, the opposite of that had been the problem much of the time, where he wasn’t able to get enough power out to cause anything to happen.

Of course, once it was out, he had very, very little control over what happened to it and where it went.

Jin burst out of the wall to his left, looking terrified and pale, but relieved all the same when he saw Jungkook. “Are you okay?” Jin fell to his knees next to the teen, hands reaching out to check for injuries. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.” All he could remember was standing in the middle of the room trying to figure out what this weird flash out the window had been and then he was waking up.

“Were you doing anything with your powers?” Jin was wiping away the dust on his face now, running his hands through Jungkook’s hair. It’d become somewhat of a nervous habit with oldest, to constantly be touching one of them like this. “Did they go haywire or something?”

Jungkook shook his head. “I wasn’t doing anything, hyung. Just standing here and then-“ he looked around at the chaos of the room. “Is something wrong with me?”

Jin pulled him into a tight hug. “Of course not, sweetheart. It was just a weird accident. It doesn’t matter. No one was hurt and that’s what’s important, okay? Let’s go find the others and go back home. Hyung’s going to make an extra special dinner.”

“But what if it happens again?” Jungkook pulled away from Jin’s embrace. “If it happens while I’m at the hotel, then people _will_ get hurt. I don’t want that to happen.”

“Jungkook! Jin!”

“Jin! Where are you?”

“Jungkookie!”

“We’re here!” Jin shouted over his shoulder. “We’re in here!”

The others arrived in the room, looking around at the disaster area. “Wow. What’d you _do?”_

“Yoongi, you’re not helping.” Jin helped Jungkook to his feet. “You’re coming back to the hotel.”

“But—“

“But there’s no guarantee if this will ever happen again. And you don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Jungkook sniffled. “Fine. But if it does-“

“Then we’ll try and find out what’s wrong.” Jin placed on a hand on each of Jungkook’s shoulders and squeezed comfortingly. “It’s not going to happen though. Trust me, okay?” The younger nodded, somewhat reluctantly. “Alright. Let’s all head back to the hotel. Unless someone wants to give the kids more time,” he added, shooting a look in Namjoon’s direction.

The ride back to the hotel was quiet. Taehyung and Jimin had pestered Jungkook with questions at first, but a glare from Jin sent them in silence. The city seemed to loud and crowded compared to the soothing sounds they’d had out in the middle of nowhere. Even the ones who had grown up in cities found it to be almost too much.

“Living in a cabin in the woods doesn’t seem like such a bad idea, now that I’ve thought about it,” Yoongi remarked as they took the elevator down to their rooms. “It’d be peaceful and we wouldn’t have to hide like we do here.”

“We wouldn’t be at risk of hurting anyone either,” came Jungkook’s quiet answer.

Jin ran a hand through his hair, glancing at Namjoon as if to ask what they should do. Namjoon shrugged, as lost as he was. Some useful father he was. Jungkook disappeared into his room, shutting the door in Taehyung’s face when the other tried to follow. “Just let him have his space for a while, Tae,” Jin advised. “It was probably a bigger shock to him than it was to us. Let him calm down and he’ll be back to normal in no time.”

The oldest headed off to the large kitchen after making sure the rest went to their rooms. A room anyways, as Jimin and Taehyung were planning on watching TV together and Namjoon and Hoseok were getting up to whatever they got up to when it was just the two of them. Yoongi was napping, as per usual.

One of their neighbors was fixing a sandwich when he entered. Jin smiled and said hello, getting only a grunt in return when the man walked past, mouth full of sandwich. Muttering about how rude some people were, he got to work, chopping vegetables and meat, until a fragrant scent filled the air.

He’d just pulled the main course out of the oven and was placing the sides in their dishes when the other six boys started turning up, stomachs growling and mouths watering at the smell of food. “Wow, it looks so amazing,” Jimin said, eyes wide.

“Go set the table,” Jin ordered handing them a stack of plates and some cutlery. There was a large table between the kitchen and the uniform racks that was meant to inspire cooperation and a sense of community for the live-in workers, but only the group of seven actually used it. “It’ll be done in a few minutes.”

The food was placed on the table and they gathered around it, ready to eat the last meal they ever would in the hotel basement. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, shitties foreshadowing ever. Wow
> 
> Also I accidentally posted the last chapter twice if any of you were confused about it. I didn't notice until this morning, sorry.


	22. Chapter 22

The night ended peacefully and they happily returned to their rooms after Jin scolded them for staying up too late. Falling asleep was easier than normal now that they’d used so much of their excess energy. Jin wondered as he lay in his bed, trying to sleep, how often they’d be able to go out there, thinking it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make it regular thing. But then there was that weird thing with Jungkook’s powers going off like they had.

He rolled over, figuring that it might’ve just been a weird, hormonal thing triggered by finally letting his powers go.

It wasn’t long before he fell asleep, wondering what he’d have to deal with tomorrow.

~

“Jin! Jin, wake up!”

Someone was shaking his shoulder aggressively and the light was on. He blearily blinked up at the man standing over him. “What’s goin’ on? Taeyang hyung?”

“You need to get dressed and leave.” The assistant manager was frantic, practically dragging Jin out of his bed. “There are men upstairs looking for you. You guys need to leave. Now.”

“Men?” He had finally woken up and began pulling on his normal clothes at the same time as shoving whatever else he had into a backpack. _Damn it, why didn’t I keep a bag ready just for this occasion? Shit._ “Are the others awake yet?”

“Seungri, Daesung, and Seunghyun are getting them up. Jiyong is holding off the men for as long as he can.”

“How are we leaving? Out the back?”

“There’s a tunnel that leads into the basement of a building a couple blocks away. The building might be surrounded, so…” The man trailed off before heading back into the hall, assumedly to make sure everyone was awake now.

Jin had finished his frantic packing and dressing, looking around the room for anything he’d missed. There was a lot that he couldn’t take with, little knickknacks he’d collected and number of polaroid photos that he’d taken. The pink polaroid camera the boys had gifted him with was sitting atop the dresser. He didn’t want to leave it behind.

 _Fuck it,_ Jin swore silently, taking the camera and shoving it amongst the clothes he’d packed. Hopefully that’d be enough cushioning to protect it. He headed into the hall finding all of the other boys’ doors open and Taehyung and Jimin looking terrified, already dressed with bulging backpacks. “Hyung?”

“It’s gonna be fine. Where are the others? Yoongi and Namjoon?”

“Yoongi’s in the kitchen getting food sorted with Hoseok. Namjoon’s helping wake up Jungkook.”

Jin headed to the youngest’s room, finding Namjoon trying to get a nearly comatose Jungkook to get dressed while Seungri was putting clothes in Jungkook’s bag. “Hyung? Little help?”

“Here, I’ll take him.” Jin took over supporting the teen. “Seungri, can you lead Taehyung and Jimin down to the tunnel? Namjoon, you go with them.”

“But-“

“Go, Namjoon. Tell Hoseok and Yoongi to join you when they’re done.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be there in a few minutes. Now go. If we get separated meet at the train car. Stick to the plan, remember?”

Namjoon wanted to argue, it was written all over his face, but he nodded anyways. Seungri, confused as he was by all of this, led the way out of the room, setting Jungkook’s half filled backpack on the bed. “Alright, Jeon Jungkook, it’s time to wake up.” Jin lifted a hand to pinch at Jungkook’s chest, making the younger jolt and whine.

“Hyung, what the heck? Leave me alone.”

“Jungkook, they’re after us. We have to leave.”

Jungkook’s eyes met his, steady and disbelieving. “No.”

“Get dressed. We don’t have much time.” Jin picked up the backpack again, finishing packing while Jungkook struggled into his clothes.

Daesung found them just as they were leaving the room. “Finally. The others are already down in the tunnel waiting for you. C’mon.”

Jin took hold of Jungkook’s hand, leading the way. They went to the very last door in the hall, the label on the door claiming it as the boiler room. Daesung led them past a bunch of humming machines and pipes to the very back of the room. There was a small trap door open, with a ladder descending down. There was a weak light at the bottom and Jin could make out Namjoon’s outline.

“Jungkookie, you first.” Jungkook was scrambling down the ladder when they heard the elevator ding. “Shit. Jungkook, drop!”

Jungkook immediately let go of the ladder, falling to the ground and landing somewhat gracefully. Jin didn’t even bother with the ladder as he just fell through the floor. Landing on the ground while still intangible was a strange feeling, as his brain thought it should hurt, but it didn’t. Another him Daesung had begun climbing down, shutting the trap door and latching it from the inside.

“Get moving,” Jin ordered. “While we have time.”

“Is no one going to talk about what just happened?” Seungri asked as they began jogging along the narrow corridor.

Taehyung stopped suddenly, flattening against the wall so the others could keep going, and facing behind them. Before anyone could ask what he was doing, they heard the telltale sound of vines creeping along the walls, forming a barrier between them and the trapdoor. Once it was finished, he kept going.

“Seriously guys!?” Seungri asked, voice hitching up an octave.

“Don’t worry about it,” Taeyang said, forcing him to keep moving. “We’re going out at a different building, so you’ll be on your own after this.” The three hotel employees were quickly getting out of breath and starting to lag behind.

“Damn it, why are you guys so _fast?”_ Daesung panted out as the youngest three began to pull farther ahead until they were almost out of the circle of light.

They’d run along for about five minutes before Taeyang told them to stop by a ladder on the wall. There were a couple letters written next to it in white paint. The building name, Jin guessed. He handed the lantern to Jin. “This is where we leave you. The ladder you’ll want to go up is at the very end, so you can’t exactly miss it. Be safe okay? Good luck out there.”

“It was nice working with you. Even if you kept some super cool secrets from us.” Seungri beamed at them, bowing politely. “I’m gonna miss you guys.”

“Good luck. Don’t die or anything,” Daesung said somewhat awkwardly.

“Thanks. Really.” The sentiments were echoed around the seven. “I’m sorry for the trouble we caused.”

“And the vines in the tunnel should die in a day or two,” Taehyung added. “So you don’t have to worry about cutting through it.”

The three men nodded, climbing up the ladder. Jin waited until they were all the way up before continuing down into the dark tunnel.

The ladder at the end of the tunnel led out to the bottom of a stairwell at the back of a building several blocks away from the hotel. Jin climbed out of the stairwell and looked around the dirty alleyway they found themselves in, trying to get his bearings for where they were. A main road noisily existed down the way and Jin could see a familiar café across it, one they had visited numerous times. They had good coffee. They were closed now.

Jin looked back at the boys that had gathered at the top of the stairs, looking around them. “Ready to go?”

“Where? The train car?” Taehyung asked.

Namjoon shook his head. “If they found us at the hotel, it’s likely that they know about the train car as well. They’ll be watching it to see if we go there. We have to leave town.”

They could all feel the weight of the words resting heavily on their shoulders. Jin took a deep breath. “Hey, cheer up guys. It’s not like we’re back where we started.” He managed a weak smile. “We have money now. And identification. We’ll be alright.”

“But they found us,” Jungkook pointed out, voice thick with emotion. “They’ll find us again.”

“So we’ll disguise ourselves better. We’ll dress differently. Change our hair color. We’ll be okay.” The words weren’t having the effect Jin had hoped. The shock of it all was still to present. “Listen, let’s just focus on getting out of the city first. They’ll still have trains running this late, so we’ll take one. To as far away from here as possible.”

He didn’t get answer as he turned and marched down the alleyway, the rest trudging after him while the very top of the hotel glimmered in the distance.

**End Part 1**


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a bit of a time skip between the last chapter and this one, just to avoid confusion

**Part 2: Sweat**

Jin walked up the stairs, heavy laden with bags of groceries. He had to fight to get his keys out and it was then that he discovered the door was unlock. Sighing, he walked into the narrow entryway, peering into the living room as he walked past into the kitchen. “Hello? Yoongi, Namjoon, you here?”

He couldn’t see anyone and there was no answer. They didn’t leave the door unlocked when no one was home _again,_ did they? After he specifically told them not to… Grumbling under his breath, Jin placed the food away, straightening up the disaster the kids had made of the cupboards.

With a yawn, Jin left the kitchen, fully intending to go to sleep and not wake up until next week. Or next year, maybe. As he made his way around the mismatched sofas and chairs to reach the bedroom he shared with Yoongi, a movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. The man spun around, fists raised and ready to swing in case of danger.

Except that danger turned out to be Min Yoongi lazily playing on his phone while laying flat on the couch.

“What the hell, Yoongi?” Jin snapped, very tired and not in the mood to have the life scared out of him.

Yoongi looked up at him, blinking in confusion. “What?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were here when I called? You scared me.”

The younger man shrugged, returning his attention to his phone. “You’d have made me help you.”

Jin rolled his eyes, turning away. He felt even more tired now that before. Maybe a year wasn’t long enough. A decade. Yeah, a decade should do it.

~

Hoseok and Jimin had both gotten home by the time he woke up from his nap (luckily not a decade later) and they were watching some movie on TV with Yoongi. Jimin was laying with his head on Hoseok’s lap while his body was curled on the remaining part of the couch, eyes still open, but just barely. Hoseok was playing with his hair gently as he stared at the TV. It was likely he didn’t even know he was doing it.

“Hey, Hyung,” Yoongi greeted from the chair he was cuddled up in. “How was your nap? Done being crabby yet?”

“Shut up, Yoongi.”

“So that’s a no then.”

“I hate you.” Jin glanced at Jimin before lowering his voice a little. “When are you going to work?”

“Eight. Maybe earlier if they need me, but it’s a weekday so eight.”

Jin nodded. He looked at Namjoon’s door. “Is Nam back yet?”

“Yeah. Like ten minutes after you got here. I’m surprised you didn’t hear him come in. He tripped over you shoes.” Yoongi chuckled. “Again.”

The oldest looked at the entry way. “He didn’t break anything did he? I moved everything away…”

“Nah. Just embarrassed himself and scared the shit out of me.”

“Language. And I can’t _possibly_ imagine how that feels.” Jin rolled his eyes before walking behind the couch where Hoseok was sitting. He rested a hand on Hoseok’s soft, dark hair. “Work okay?” he whispered.

Hoseok nodded. “Fine. Jimin had a harder time than me. He’s still getting used to it.”

“I’m gonna start making dinner. You want anything special?”

“Sweet stuff?” Hoseok suggested. “Jimin would like it.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Jin ruffled his hair before going to the kitchen to start cooking. It wasn’t long before Jungkook and Taehyung came home as well, noisy until they realized Jimin was asleep. Jungkook poked his head into the kitchen, looking cute in his mustard yellow school uniform. He was the only one not currently working, having been forced to go to school by Jin. It’d been hard to find somewhere for him to attend, but luckily he’d managed to test into the final year and been accepted into a nearby school.

“Need any help, hyung?” he asked, peeking around the older at the pot on the stove. “It smells good.”

Jin shook his head. “It’s nearly done.” He placed a lid on it. “Go get changed so I can put your uniform in the wash. And wake up Namjoon.”

“’Kay.”

After checking that the stew was simmering nicely, Jin turned and got out a couple bowls and a pan. “Sweet, hmm.” He searched around in the small pantry before finding the small box of cake mix he’d picked up on sale a couple weeks back. Shrugging, he mixed together the rest of the ingredients, sliding it into the oven just in time for Taehyung and Namjoon to come begging for dinner.

They didn’t have a proper dining table; the apartment was far too small for one. What they _did_ have was a rectangular coffee table that they could squish around. There was usually an amount of elbowing and kicking each other by accident, and occasionally an argument would break out, but it suited them. Jungkook and Taehyung helped carry the food and plates and silverware out to it, while Jin checked on the cake.

Jimin was still half asleep as he leaned on Yoongi’s shoulder when they all sat down to eat. There were some fun stories about strange customers at work or about Jungkook’s classmates. Jungkook did an amazing impression of a tomato when questioned about any female classmates and the subject wasn’t dropped until it was revealed that he’d received a confession letter that day.

“Ah, our baby’s grown up so much. Going and getting himself a girlfriend already.” Namjoon wiped a nonexistent tear from his eye. “We’ve done so well Jin.”

“You have to give him the talk now,” Jin deadpanned. Namjoon went pale as the rest of the table (except for Jungkook who looked like he wanted to die) burst out laughing. “What are you planning to do, Kookie?” Jin asked once they’d all settled down once more.

Jungkook shrugged, playing with his food to avoid looking at anyone. His cheeks were still rather red. “I don’t really know her that well, so I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“But you could get to know her,” Hoseok reminded him. “You really should hang out with more people your own age.”

“I can’t though, can I? Because I’m a freak.” Jungkook snapped suddenly, eyes flashing red. The glass in the window behind him exploded outward. His eyes widened as he spun to look at it. Scrambling to his feet, he fled to the room he shared with Namjoon, slamming the door shut behind him.


	24. Chapter 24

“What was that about?” Yoongi spoke up. He got up to check the window, which was now letting in cold air from outside. “Damn, there’s glass all over the sidewalk outside now. We’ll have to tape something over it until we get a new one. Jin, there’s still some flat carboard boxes in the hall closet, right?”

Jin snapped to attention at the sound of his name. “Ah, yeah. There’s some duct tape on the shelf too.” He looked to Taehyung and Jimin. “Do you know what’s going on?”

They both shrugged. “He seemed fine the entire way home. You don’t think something happened at school, do you?”

“He has been a little withdrawn lately though,” Jimin pointed out. “I thought it was just because of all the moving around and getting settled down again, but…”

He trailed off and they all went back to staring at the door. Jin sighed. “I’ll see if I can talk to him about it tonight before I have to go to work. The rest of you get some rest.” The timer in the kitchen went off. “Oh, the cake.”

Deciding to give Jungkook some time to calm back down, he took the cake out of the oven, releasing the wonderful scent of it to waft throughout the apartment. The tub of frosting he’d bought along with it had mysterious been opened and was only half full. Yoongi pretended like Jin wasn’t looking at him, choosing to study his nails closely at that moment.

Even half the tub was enough frosting for the cake and the group of boys watched mesmerized as Jin cut it into pieces, placing a slice on six plates. While the others were happily digging in, smiling with frosting around their lips, Jin took the last plate and a fork and headed to Jungkook’s room.

“Jungkookie?” he called, knocking on the door. When there was no answer, he tried to turn the knob, but found it locked. “Jungkook, unlock the door or I’ll come in anyway.” Again, there was no response, so Jin simply stepped through the door. “Jungkook, I brought you some cake.”

“Don’t want it.”

The room was near pitch black with the light off and the curtains drawn. Jungkook’s voice was coming from the direction of the bunk bed they’d managed to squeeze in with the other furniture. Blinking a couple times, Jin found his vision adjusting enough so he could walk without risking tripping over anything.

Setting down the cake on the bedside table, Jin sat on the edge of the bottom bed, looking at the black lump that was Jungkook curled in the corner. “What’s going on Jungkook?”

“Don’t want to talk about it.” His voice sound hoarse like he’d been crying. “Sorry about the window. I didn’t mean to.”

“I know you didn’t. That’s not the problem. If it was, I wouldn’t have brought you cake.” He laughed softly at his own joke before letting it die out when Jungkook didn’t. “You’re not a freak, Jungkook.”

There was a harsh bark of a laugh. “Oh yeah, because _everyone_ can blow things up with their mind. Totally, hyung.”

“Jungkook.”

Jungkook curled more into himself. “Please, just go away, hyung. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Is that what you’re afraid of?” Jin reached out to touch what he hoped was Jungkook’s shoulder. “I’m not scared you’re going to hurt me. None of us are.” The younger wiggled, trying to shake off his hand but Jin just moved closer. “Jungkook, you’re not alone.”

“I know that.”

“I mean, you don’t have to face your problems alone. We’ve all had our doubts and we can help you if you just _ask.”_

“How can I just ask? How can I know I’m not going to hurt any of you?” He sat up, glaring at Jin now.

Jin was taken about a little at the sudden change in his demeanor. “Because you wouldn’t. You know you wouldn’t.”

“And Hoseok knew he wouldn’t and he still--” He cut off with a sharp gasp, looking away. Jin could see the glimmer of tears in the tiny bit of light that came from under the door.

The older held out his arms and Jungkook crawled into the hug, burying his face in Jin’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he kept repeating while all Jin could do was rock back and forth and try to force his own tears to stop.

“That was an accident. No one blames Hoseok—”            

Jungkook jerked back. “I’m not _blaming_ him! I know it wasn’t really his fault, but he didn’t know and I’m scared that that’s what’ll be like for me. I won’t know that I hurt someone before they’re already…”

“That was back in the facility.” Jin cupped Jungkook’s face in his hands, forcing him to look him in the eyes. “We are not there anymore. We’re here, together, right now. You’re not going to hurt anyone as long as you remain calm, understand?” Jungkook nodded. Jin smiled. “Now eat your cake and get some sleep okay? Do your homework.”

“Yes, mom.” Jungkook turned on a lamp, causing both of them to flinch at the sudden brightness. Jin had reached the door when Jungkook spoke up again. “Oh, hyung?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. For everything. Really you’re a fantastic mom- hyung. Person. Thanks.”

“Love you too Jungkook.”


	25. Chapter 25

Yoongi clipped the pizza into place on the back of cherry red moped before placing the matching helmet on his head. He swung his leg over the glorified scooter and, after double checking the address, he turned the key and sped off.

Delivering pizza wasn’t the dream job Yoongi had always wanted, but it was better than some other options that had been briefly entertained. It was simple enough, so long as he didn’t get lost, and Yoongi enjoyed the freedom of it, not having a boss looming over his shoulder constantly or having to deal with coworkers too often for long periods of time.

The only thing he hated about it was dealing with the customers. He pulled up to the curb of in front of the home of his first customer of the day. Yoongi plastered a happy smile on his face as he approached the door and knocked.

A shirtless guy, college aged if Yoongi had to guess, answered. “Pizza’s here!” he shouted back into the house. “Alright, what do I owe you?” Yoongi told him the price and the money was exchanged for the pizza. By then, a second college aged male, this one with a shirt, had arrived at the door, carrying what looked like a bag of garbage.

“Oh, nice. Pizza!” He flipped the box open with one hand, reaching to grab a slice while holding the bag of garbage out to Yoongi. “Do me a favor and throw that in the bin when you go? Thanks, mate.” The door shut before Yoongi could protest, leaving him holding the garbage bag in front of him. It _reeked._ What did they even put in there?

Face scrunched up in disgust, he walked back towards his moped, flinging the disgusting bag into a cracked garbage can stood at the curb. “Rude prick,” he mumbled, getting back onto the moped and too the long way back to the restaurant.

“Any trouble?” Jackson asked when Yoongi walked into through the back room. “They sounded kinda douche-y on the phone. I was worried about sending you.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to blow up just because of a few assholes.”

The younger shrugged. “I don’t know, hyung. Sometimes you seem kinda…” He trailed off when Yoongi turned to glare at him. Lucky for the other, the phone rang at that moment, giving him the perfect excuse.

“Here you go Yoongi,” Mark said, sliding a pizza box through the window that led to the kitchen. There was a slip of paper on top with the address. “Make it quick, yeah? A couple more orders just came in and Youngjae isn’t answering.”

“’Kay.” Yoongi took the pizza and the whole process was repeated. This time the customers were nicer and he got a nice tip. There were a few more nice customers, a couple awful ones, and more often than not, boring people who just wanted their pizza.

The night air felt nice on his face as he drove around the city, bright lights flashing and shadows disappearing and gathering again in different places. He felt invisible when he was riding. It was when he got off the little motorcycle that life more or less slapped him in the face.

“You’re done for the night,” Jackson told him when he came back. The clock on the wall announced that it was nearing four in the morning. Jackson himself looked exhausted, eyes sliding shut. The kitchen was quiet as well, the only sound being water splashing as Mark washed the dishes. “Youngjae took the last one and we haven’t gotten any more orders. So go home.” He paused. “Hyung.”

“You go home, kid. You’re gonna fall off that stool.”

Jackson laughed his weird strangled hyena laugh. “Yeah, yeah. ‘M just waiting for Mark right now. Hurry up, hyung. I’m tired.” He shouted the last part into the kitchen.

“You want to wash these dishes?” Mark fired back.

“Nah.”

“Then shut up.”

Yoongi chuckled, shaking his head at the two. “Good night, Mark. See you Jackson.” He left the restaurant, driving the quiet roads back to the apartment.

The living room was dark when he entered, which was unsurprising as everyone else was at work or sleeping. He sped into the kitchen to grab a slice of cake to snack on before going into the room he shared with Jin.

Here he flipped the light on, as the other was still at work. He finished the cake and got ready for bed. Snuggling under the covers, he thought again of the city at night, how pretty it was, even if it was tinged with darkness and danger.

Maybe even _especially_ because the darkness and danger.


	26. Chapter 26

Jungkook didn’t want to go to school. He did _not._ The only reason he’d agreed to it was because Jin had begged him to and the others all said that they would prefer it. He went because they wanted him to.

If only they realized that they were sending him to Hell.

The uniform was the first offense, but certainly not the last. Jungkook had grown to love having his own style and being able to pick out what he wanted to wear every day, even if he generally chose to wear white t-shirts. He’d grown to dislike it when anyone else went through them or borrowed something. Uniforms reminded him of the facility, where his opinions and wants didn’t matter to anyone.

Now that he thought about it, the facility was a lot like school, only the school was worse in some ways and by some miracle (or curse) was actually legal.

The hallways were crowded when Jungkook entered the building. They always were and Jungkook always felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of people all around him wearing the ugly uniform. He kept his head down, avoiding making eye contact with anyone as he went to his classroom and sat down.

Immediately, he pulled out a notebook and one of his textbooks, pretending to study. Generally, that kept people from bothering him and gave him the excuse for not trying to talk to anyone.

His seat was in the front near the door, so everyone had to walk past him in some way to get to their seat and he caught little snippets of their conversations. Jungkook blocked them out as best he could but couldn’t help but listen in when he noticed they were talking about _him._

“The new kid is studying again. What a nerd.”

“He just transferred in a couple weeks ago, right?”

“Yeah, and he hasn’t made any friends at all. He just eats his lunch all alone and studies constantly. It’s pathetic.”

“Why doesn’t someone talk to him?”

“There’s no point. It’s like talking to a wooden board. He’s stiff and weird.”

“He’s cute though, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, but if his personality is boring, then there’s no point.”

“Maybe he’s just shy.”

“Who cares?”

Jungkook was desperately resisting turning around and snapping at his classmates, but he held it in. The homeroom teacher, an older woman that never smiled, walked in then, calling the class to attention. Jungkook slid his books closed, pretending he didn’t see the tiny bits of red lights manifesting between his fingers as he did.

Getting himself back under control was hard, but he kept breathing. His focus on what was being taught faded in and out, drifting through good times spent with his hyungs, remembering their support and belief in him. That was what helped the most in the end.

When lunch rolled around, Jungkook took the lunch box Jin had left for him that morning and snuck up the stairs to the door leading to the roof. Students weren’t allowed and the door was locked, but the landing was a quiet place where he could relax and eat without fear of being talked to. Or talked about.

Lunch was just a sandwich, a couple slices of fruit that Jin had taken the time to cut into cute shapes, which Jungkook rolled his eyes at, and a slightly smashed piece of cake. Jungkook hummed to himself as he ate, doodling away in the margins of his notebooks.

“Jungkook oppa?”

Jungkook startled, pencil dropping from his hand to roll to the feet of the girl standing on the edge of the landing. It was the same one as yesterday, he noticed, surprised that he’d remembered her face. She was from the class next to his and was considered to be cute, in an innocent, sweet sort of way. Jungkook thought that the double braids were pleasant and the way she stood could be considered cute.

“Do you need something?” He managed to get out. He really needed to work on talking to strange people. The comments from that morning still stung a bit.

“I- I was hoping that you would give your answer. From yesterday.” Her cheeks were flushed bright pink. Jungkook wished he could have remembered her name.

“I’m not really looking for…” What do people even _say_ in these sorts of situations? He should start watching dramas with Yoongi. “Anyone, right now. So, I guess, my answer is no?”

He sounded awful. Somewhere Jin was cringing. He should have asked how to be polite when turning someone down last night when he had the chance, but it really hadn’t occurred to him that the girl would bother to seek him out.

“Oh. Okay then.” She sounded a little hurt, but at least hadn’t burst into tears. Jungkook had no idea what he’d do if that happened. “Um, thank you for being honest with me. And for taking the time to answer.”

 _But I didn’t,_ Jungkook wanted to argue as the girl walked back down the steps. _You took the time to come find me and get an answer._

Girls were confusing. People were confusing. He wanted to go home. 


	27. Chapter 27

Jimin cringed as he put the dishes in the sink and ended up splashing water onto his front. He was already wet from the last few times he done that, but there didn’t seem to be a way to not do it. Ignoring the way that the wet, itchy fabric rubbed against his skin, he got to work scrubbing down the plates and pans as fast as he could. The rest of the kitchen bustled around behind him, orders being shouted and food being prepared at high speed.

He had thought the restaurant would be a good idea. Hoseok had gotten the job first, as a waiter, and Jimin had liked the idea of being able to work alongside his hyung. Except that they hadn’t needed another waiter.

They did, however, need a dishwasher.

Jimin’s hands were red and wrinkled from being in the soapy water all day and his feet were beginning to ache. As he placed a few plates on the drying rack, he glanced at the clock, mentally calculating how much longer he’d have to do this before Hoseok and his shifts would end and they could go home together.

 _Only one hour and seven more minutes. I can do this._ Jimin renewed his efforts on getting the rest of the dishes cleaned, even managing to catch up on the ones that had been piled on the counter next to the sink. And then one of the other workers came in and placed a heaping pile there to replace them. As Jimin refilled the sink with clean water, the counter was bumped and plate that had been rather stupidly stacked on top fell.

The boy lunged to catch it but it was too late and the plate hit the ground and broke in two.

He was picking up the pieces when the manager entered the kitchen, eyes zeroing in on him. “Dropped another plate, huh?” He was short and squat, with a thick black and grey mustache that Jimin felt would tickle his nose a lot. “Didn’t I tell you to be more careful or it’ll start coming out of your paycheck?”

“It wasn’t my fault, someone else stacked it and—” he tried to defend himself but the words came out soft and mumbled.

The manager huffed. “Don’t bother tryin’ to blame someone else. Just don’t drop another one.” The man walked off, grumbling about ungrateful brats.

Jimin finished cleaning up the broken plate and went back to washing dishes. It wasn’t fair. Practically everyone broke a dish of some kind, especially during their first few days. Hoseok had even admitted to dropping a bowl of soup when he’d tripped trying to not knock over a little kid. But _he_ didn’t get reprimanded on his second day.

Somewhere in the kitchen, there was the sound of something dropping and shattering. Jimin didn’t looked up.

~

Taehyung lazily spun a pin around on the counter, bored. The convenience store was empty and had been most of the day. The boy had already restocked all the products, organized the back room, and mopped the floors and cleaned the bathrooms, one of which had be cleaned twice after a carsick kid puked all over the floor. That had been fun.

There wasn’t even anyone there with him. After the first few days, the owner had trusted him to be responsible enough to let him run the entire himself. Of course, there was the security camera in the corner to make sure that he was actually there and not doing anything he wasn’t supposed to, but it was a nice feeling to be so trusted.

The radio droned on and on in the background. The only station it could pick up was some old style station that played music from thirty years ago. Taehyung didn’t even know that they _had_ music from thirty years ago. Then again, from what he’s heard, it’s boring as hell, so no wonder no one played anymore, except on the one station.

He perked up when the bell above the door rang and a man in a suit walked in. The man strode purposefully around, grabbing a couple granola bars and a can of cold coffee. When he reached the counter, he added a pack of gum to his ensemble. Taehyung quickly scanned everything, telling him the price. “Would you like a bag?” he asked, beginning to pull one out from where they were stored under the register.

“Yeah.” The man pulled out his wallet and laid the money on the counter as Taehyung put everything into the bag as neatly as he could. Before he could return the change to the man, he’d already left, walking out with long strides.

Sighing, Taehyung wondered what he should do with change. It could be counted as a tip, but Taehyung wasn’t sure if he should keep it or just put it in the register. In the end, he dumped it into the Homeless Care donation box sitting next the little rack of lollipops. No one could really argue with that. 


	28. Chapter 28

Hoseok yawned widely when he and Jimin returned home. The dorm was quiet, so he guess, Namjoon, Yoongi, and Jin were all still asleep. He and Jimin changed out of their black work uniforms, and returned to the living room, flipping on the TV. There wasn’t much on so Hoseok left it to Jimin to decide and picked up one of the books he’d gotten a couple days ago at a garage sale.

Already he’d amassed quite a bit of a collection of cheap paperbacks. Some were pretty awful and he read them mostly to laugh at how terrible and predictable the plot was, before donating them to some library or book drive. Others were amazing and eye opening and those he had read to the point where most were falling apart (not that he generally bought them in the best condition anyway). He was constantly on the look out for a better copy of those books and he resisted having to give them away or leaving them behind when they had to move.

“Is that a good one, hyung?” Jimin asked after a while of pointless channel surfing. Hoseok shrugged, not really sure yet. It was okay so far. He flicked the TV off. “Can I borrow one?”

“Sure. You know where the good ones are, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And be gentle with them.”

“I know, hyung.”

Jimin left to go and select a book, coming back with one of the newer looking ones, figuring it was a safer bet. Taehyung had lost a couple pages of one of Hoseok’s books before and Hoseok had practically exploded at the younger. It wasn’t Taehyung’s fault though. The binding had been coming apart for ages and it was only a matter of time. Hoseok had apologized the next morning and the two had gotten out hunting for a cheap copy of it, coming back that afternoon tired, but victorious.

They continued reading like that for a while until Yoongi exited his room, hair mussed from sleep. “Morning, kids,” he greeted, waddling his way to the bathroom.

“It’s the afternoon, hyung,” Jimin correct. Yoongi looked at him blankly before shutting the bathroom door. Jimin giggled before going back to reading. “This is really good, hyung,” he said after a few minutes. Already he was almost to the half way point.

Hoseok smirked. “I have the best taste.” He glanced down at the book in his hands. “This is shit though.”

“Don’t let Jin hear you swear,” Yoongi reminded him after leaving the bathroom, looking somewhat refreshed. “He’ll kill you.”

“Jin’s asleep though, so I can swear all I fucking want.”

Jin’s door opened just as Yoongi was reaching for the handle and there stood a very disappointed looking Jin, hands on his hips in perfect mom posture. “What was that, Jung Hoseok?”

“I said, Jin hyung’s the best person ever and I love him.” Hoseok smiled brightly, but it wasn’t working. “Also, I’m gonna clean the bathroom later, because he does a lot of work already and I don’t want him to feel burdened.”

Jin smiled, satisfied. “How kind of you, Hoseokie. You really are so sweet, aren’t you? Unlike some people.” He eyed Yoongi as he walked past. “How have you been, Jiminnie? How was work?”

Jimin shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it. “Boring. Not much happened.”

“Your hands look dried out.” Jin reached over and pulled one off the book Jimin was holding, feeling the skin with his own hand. “You should put some lotion on before they get all cracked and start to bleed. Hang on, I have some.” He disappeared back into his room and returned with a small, sample bottle he’d picked up somewhere. “Here. It smells nice too.”

“I don’t want to smell like flowers, hyung,” Jimin complained, setting the book down. He held out his hands anyways, letting Jin put a few dots on his hands and began rubbing it in.

“It’s just on your hands, calm down.” He snapped the bottle closed and set it on the coffee table before flopping onto the couch next to Hoseok. “What about you? How was your day?”

Hoseok shrugged, mildly annoyed at the constant interruptions to his reading. “A customer complained a lot about the food and didn’t leave a tip. One of the other waiters ended up dropping an entire tray of salads onto a bunch of customers. She nearly started crying when she was apologizing.”

“How did they react?”

“They were pretty chill. It wasn’t her fault. And it was just salad, so they just had to pick lettuce of them.” Hoseok shrugged, turning the page.

The front door opened  and Taehyung and Jungkook walked in, the former looking far to full of energy for Yoongi to deal with and he quickly made his escape to his bedroom. Jungkook looked lost in thought as he toed his shoes off slowly and dropped his bag down next to the battered umbrella stand. “Hyung!” Taehyung cried, leaping onto Hoseok.

Hoseok laughed, holding onto him with one arm and tickling at the younger’s sides. “Tae-tae!”

Taehyung giggled and squirmed. “Hyung! Stop! I’m gonna pee!”

At last, Hoseok released him and Taehyung slid to the ground, breathless. “You’re so mean, hyung.”

“You jumped on me.”

“So?”

“So, don’t jump on people.” Taehyung pouted, looking to Jin for help.

Jin smirked. “Hoseok, didn’t you say something about cleaning the bathroom earlier?”

Hoseok stared at him, desperately pleading in silence. Jin glanced at the bathroom and looked back at Hoseok. The younger sighed, getting up. Taehyung laughed. “Taehyung, since you’re so full of energy, why don’t you help him?”

“Hyung!”


	29. Chapter 29

Jin was just beginning to wonder what he was going to make for dinner that night when there was a knock on the door. All seven of the boys froze, heads whipping around to stare at the door. Jin was the first to move, glancing at Namjoon before hesitantly walking over to the door. The knock came again, making them all jump.

The oldest rolled his eyes. _We’re all way too scared._ He took the last few steps forward and jerked the door open, ready to deal with whatever was out there.

“Hey, Jin hyung!” Jackson said loudly (read as: shouted) as he pushed past the broad shouldered man and into the apartment. He was carrying three large pizzas and the aroma quickly filled the air. “I brought you guys dinner. Because I’m the best, right?”

“Whoo! Jackson hyung!” Taehyung dashed over to grab the pizzas, setting them down on the coffee table and opening them up. “Pepperoni~” He took a piece and started chowing down as Jimin and Jungkook investigated the other boxes, finding cheese and sausage respectively.

“What’s going on?” Jin asked, confused.

Mark, having been left in the hallway, sighed, shaking his head at his overly energetic roommate. “Sorry for barging in. Jackson wanted to bring you guys pizza.” Not only did they work at the same pizzeria as Yoongi, which led to him getting a job there, but they lived just across the hall with another couple of boys. Jin wasn’t entirely sure how many people actually lived there at any given point, with what seemed like an endless parade of people coming and going, but Jackson and Mark were permanent fixtures there, along with Jaebum and Youngjae.

The four had come over a couple days after the seven had moved in with pizza then and generally tried to be friendly. Unfortunately, after moving around and constantly looking over their shoulders had made the group more than a little paranoid and the entire thing had been awkward. It had taken a bit of time, but the boys had warmed up to their neighbors and exchanged greetings when they passed in the hall. Yoongi was more familiar with them, being coworkers, but the younger ones had become fast friends, particularly with Yugyeom who was there fairly often. Jin still had his doubts about getting close to people. What if they were spies? What if they found out?

The thing that concerned him the most though was how the younger ones would react if they had to leave right away, without being able to say goodbye to their friends? It would be hard, Jin knew. But it wasn’t like he could tell them _not_ to make friends.

He smiled at Mark, inviting him in. They enjoyed the pizza while watching some horror movie Mark had brought for entertainment, which led to Jimin, Hoseok, and Jackson all cowering together beneath a shared blanket on the couch. It would have been cute if they didn’t keep screaming.

Halfway through, they ran out of pizza, so Jin went to make popcorn, Jackson volunteering to help. From the way he sprinted to the kitchen and immediately turned the light on, Jin figured that it was less that he wanted to be helpful and more to escape the movie a bit.

Pulling out a couple packets of popcorn, he tossed one to Jackson to put in the microwave. “Two minutes works the best,” he advised. Jackson unwrapped it and started the time. Jin pulled down a couple large bowls from the shelf. There was a bit of awkward waiting as the popcorn started to pop. They could hear the movie playing in the other room. It sounded like someone had just gotten brutally murdered. Jackson jumped when the microwave beeped.

Jin poured it into one of the bowls as Jackson started heating the next one. They repeated the process once more before returning to the living room with the three bowls of popcorn. Jackson had just handed a bowl to Yoongi when Mark suddenly grabbed his other hand from where he’d been mostly hidden on the couch.

Jackson _screeched._ The stocky man somehow managed to crawl onto the back of Yoongi’s chair, clinging to it desperately and looking around as if he was going to be attacked again.

Mark was dying, falling onto the floor as he laughed. Jimin, Taehyung and Hoseok were also laughing, limbs flailing as they did. Jackson realized what had happened, looking at where he was. His face was red, even in the dim light coming from the TV screen, though he tried to hide it as he got back down.

“You’re the worst, Tuan.”

“That was amazing. Your face—“ Mark cut off as he started laughing again. Jackson pouted, taking Mark’s spot on the couch. “I didn’t know you would actually get that scared.”

Jin watched the two as he passed out the two bowls he had and took his seat on the floor by Namjoon’s legs, leaning his head on the younger’s knee. Mark and the other’s quieted down at their attention returned to the movie. The redhead crawled up onto the couch, squeezing in between the arm and Jackson. He wrapped his arms around Jackson’s shoulders and laid his legs across his lap, leaning into whisper something in Jackson’s ear to make the other smile. It was cute, the way they sometimes got wrapped up in their own little world where no one else mattered.

It must be nice not to be afraid. 


	30. Chapter 30

Jungkook had a talent, one that he hadn’t known about himself until recently.

“Wow, Jungkook,” his art teacher praised when he walked past to check how all the students were getting along. “You’re quite amazing.”

The teen just shrugged, picking up a different colored pencil and adding in a bit more detail. The assignment had been to draw something from where they sat in the classroom. Many of the student had chosen to draw each other, giggling as they intentionally exaggerated features to create hidieos versions of their friends. Jungkook had chosen the view outside the window, seeing as he stared out it much of the time.

“Have you done a lot of drawing? At your last school, maybe?”

 _Did the facility count as my last school?_ Well, he certainly hadn’t done any drawing there. “When I was younger I did.” Now all the drawing he did was in this class and when he was bored in the other ones. “It’s fun.”

“You know, there’s an art contest coming up very soon. You should submit something, perhaps even this one. It’s a great way to get scholarships for college and you might even get it placed in one of the local galleries.”

Jungkook shrugged again, not really listening. It wasn’t like Jin would approve of him getting noticed that much, even if it was just a small, high school art contest. It wasn’t a good idea. “Maybe,” he said, figuring if he said that the teacher would leave him alone.

It worked, and Jungkook enjoyed the rest of class in peace, wholly focused on his art.

~

He had completely forgotten about the conversation a few days later when the art teacher requested that he stay back a few minutes after class. As the other students filed out, Jungkook nervously approached the teacher’s desk. He glanced at the clock, hoping that he would be able to go soon and meet up with Taehyung.

“Did you need something, sir?”

The teacher smiled and Jungkook didn’t like it. He knew that smile. It was the same one Jin had when he had done something to surprise the others and was pleased with himself. _Did he somehow find out about them?_ Jungkook’s brain started to panic, even if outwardly he seemed utterly calm.

“Do you remember when I mentioned the art contest a couple days ago?”

Jungkook relaxed a bit, relieved that he wasn’t going to demand to know about Jungkook’s _abilities._ “Um, kinda?” He had a vague recollection of it, now that he thought about it. “I’m not really interested though…”

“Ah, well that might be a bit of a problem.” The teacher shuffled some papers on his desk. “You see, I actually entered one of you pieces in the contest. Of course, I filled out the form in your name.”

“What?” _The fuck?_ Jungkook mentally added. Who _does_ this?

The teacher smiled at him, thinking that Jungkook would probably be delighted with his news. “It was very well received, as I thought it would be. The judges loved it. You won first place!”

Jungkook stared at him. The teacher titled his head to the side, waiting for Jungkook to beam and celebrate, or maybe even shed a tear and thank his wonderful teacher profusely, claiming he had never had confidence in his art and would always remember this moment. At least, that’s what he had hoped would happen.

In reality, Jungkook turned around and walked out of the room without another word.

~

“You won an art contest you didn’t even enter?” Jin repeated, eyes almost comically wide. Jungkook nodded, looking down at his spoonful of pudding. “How? I don’t understand.”

“My art teacher thought something I had drawn for class was really good, so he entered it in a local art contest without telling me. And I won, I guess.” Jungkook ate the spoonful, knocking the metal hard against his teeth by accident. “It kinda pisses me off, to be honest. He looked like I should be _happy_ about it.”

Jin nodded, hand rubbing at his chin. “Well, it is something you should be happy about. Since you won and all. But he didn’t even tell you. You’d think there would be some kind of rule against that.”

“Do you get anything for winning?” Taehyung asked. “Like money? Or… art supplies, I guess?”

Jungkook shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t even know when the competition was. I didn’t want to enter anyways.”

The oldest shook his head. “Well, it doesn’t really matter. We can’t do anything about it now, except maybe ignore it.” He looked at the teen eating away at the pudding cup. “Think you can get it back though? Your art?”

“Why?”

“I want to see it.” Jungkook made a weird face and Jin pouted. “Let me be a proud mom for once. You never show me anything you do anymore. I didn’t even know you _liked_ art.”

“I did,” Namjoon spoke up. “He draws on like everything. He’s good.”

Yoongi laughed. “Hey, Jungkookie. You can be a street artist or something when you’re finished with school. Like one of those guys that sits in parks and does portraits for people.”

“Do you want him to get mugged?” Jin screeched.

Jungkook sighed tiredly and went to get another pudding cup.


	31. Chapter 31

Namjoon was dozing in the hard chair, his jacket wrapped around him against the cold breeze that had been making winter’s upcoming arrival known. The sky was pitch black, the city lights making any chance of seeing the stars impossible. It was one of the things Namjoon had found himself missing the most since they’d left the last smaller town they’d lived in. There had been nights when he and the others would lay on the grass in the park that had been across from where they’d been staying until early morning, pointing out different constellations and making up their own. Jimin had even spotted a shooting star once, immediately squeezing his eyes shut to make a wish.

The brunet smiled at the memory. Jimin had been so cute, stubbornly refusing to tell any of the others what he’d wished for in fear of it not coming true.

A car drove up to the station then, honking loudly. Namjoon jumped, getting up from the chair as the passenger side door rolled down. “How much do you want?” he asked.

“Whatever a twenty will get me,” came the voice inside the car. “And make it quick. I’m in a rush.”

Namjoon nodded and grabbed the gas pump, beginning to fill the tank. He stopped it perfectly at twenty dollars, rather pleased with his accuracy. As he put the gas pump back and closed the lid on the car, the driver tossed the bill out the passenger window and sped off, nearly sideswiping Namjoon as he did.

He shook his head as he picked up the bill, going to put it in the register. It was a pretty shitty job, with very few people being patient with him or willing to leave tips in the middle of the night after most likely being on the road for hours before that. Of course there were a few who got a little overly generous with their tips, but they were few and far between and usually a bit dazed with exhaustion. The pay for taking the night shift was higher though, which made up for the it.

 _And I get to see Jin more,_ he thought as he sat back down, waiting for his next customer. Since Jin and he worked the same hours, they were able to see each other off and even go part of the way to work together. It was nice, although Namjoon wished he could see the others a little more, instead of sleeping so much of the time, and being tired when he was awake and able to hang out with them.

No one else came by in the next three hours and Namjoon was able to watch the sun come up over the buildings, making the smog that covered the city sky glow almost prettily. He yawned as he checked out, waving to the two guys that were going on duty next.

His feet dragged a bit as he walked to the subway station, not bothering to rush as his train wouldn’t arrive for another ten minutes. Jin got off a mere half hour after him, but that didn’t allow them to go home together, which was disappointing, but at least he got to sleep sooner.

The apartment was quiet, the shoes that had lined the entryway when he’d left late the previous night were gone, showing that the kids had all left. He yawned widely as he shuffled around, changing into comfier clothes and eating a granola bar. Namjoon dug through his drawer, searching for his favorite pair of sweat pants, feeling the need to have them.

“What the hell?” he grumbled. He searched around a bit more before going to Jin and Yoongi’s room, wondering if Jin hadn’t mixed them up by accident. Or Yoongi stole them, despite them being far too long for his hyung’s short legs. Namjoon started with Jin’s dresser, figuring they were more likely to be in there.

As his hand brushed the very back of the drawer, he felt something that most definitely did not feel like clothing. Namjoon pulled the drawer out a bit farther, tugging the crinkly plastic thing out from under the pile of shirts it had been hidden beneath. It was a black grocery bag, wrapped tightly around whatever it held.

Namjoon had never seen it before, and while part of him knew that he should just put it back and forget about it, but his curiosity was overwhelming. It wasn’t like Jin ever kept secrets from them anyways. It was probably a gift he’d bought for one of them and had hidden it so no one would find it. _Well, too bad for you, Jin hyung,_ Namjoon thought, giggling deviously too himself as he unwrapped it.

There was a tight knot tied into it and after struggling with it for a few minutes, Namjoon managed to loosen it and open the bag, reaching into the pull out the rectangular brick like object to find that it was—

Money. A lot of money, bound together tightly.

“Namjoon? What are you doing in here?” Jin asked as he walked into the bedroom. He froze when he saw what Namjoon was holding.

“Care to explain what this is, hyung?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so Nanowrimo officially ended yesterday and I made the word count goal! Hurray! However, the story still isn't quite finished, so I'm going to continue writing. There are still a lot of chapters that haven't been published (obviously since the word count on here isn't 50,000) so those will continue coming out one a day until I finish.


	32. Chapter 32

Jin avoided meeting his eyes, shifting his weight nervously. “I can explain that.”

“Can you? How the hell did you get this much money? There must be--” Namjoon looked at the money, finding that the bills all had a very sharp looking 100 in the corner. There were so _many_ of them too. “Fucking hell, Jin. Where did you get all this? Are you selling drugs or…?”

“No! No, it’s nothing like that. I just, um.” Jin sighed heavily, sinking onto his bed. “I was saving it. In case of an emergency.”

“An emergence?”

“Like if one of you got sick, or seriously hurt, or arrested, or _something._ I shouldn’t have taken it, I know. But I was scared of what might happen and we couldn’t pay. I wasn’t going to use it unless absolutely necessary, I _swear.”_

Namjoon sat down beside him after setting the money down on top of the dresser. It had felt too heavy in his hand. “Where did you get it, hyung?”

“You rem--,” Jin started, having to force himself to take a deep breath before he could continue. “You remember a couple months back, right after we left the hotel and we were sleeping in a shed at the edge of some town? And the next morning we nearly got caught by the cops because they were looking for a bank robber?”

“That was you?”

Namjoon remembered reading about the story in a newspaper he’d picked up while they were waiting for the next train. “The police couldn’t figure out how they did it. Like the robber had just walked through the walls.” They had joked about it being Jin later that day. “Oh, my God.”

“I’m sorry.”

His voice sounded choked. Namjoon looked over and found tears rolling down Jin’s cheeks. “I’m sorry for doing it and I’m sorry for not telling anyone. I just didn’t want to disappoint you guys. You’re all so important to me.”

The younger wanted to reach out to him, to comfort him and tell him that it was okay and he understood. But the money was still there, glaringly obvious that it was not okay. Namjoon did not understand, couldn’t understand.

“I’m gonna tell Yoongi, when he gets home. We’ll decide what to do then.” The younger male could barely recognize his own voice as he spoke. Never before had he sounded so cold and unfeeling, especially when speaking to his hyung.

Jin nodded weakly, tears still falling from his eyes onto his lap.

Namjoon left the room without another word.

~

Yoongi arrived home a little after one, having worked the morning shift that day. When he saw Namjoon sitting in the living room with the TV off and staring blankly at the wall, he knew something was up. “Hey. Something happen? Where’s Jin?”

“He robbed a bank.”

“What?”

“Jin hyung. He robbed a bank. I found the money.”

The older rolled his eyes. “Ha ha. Very funny.”

“I’m being serious.” The intense look in Namjoon’s eyes gave Yoongi pause.

“Jin wouldn’t rob a bank. He hates breaking the rules.”

Namjoon shrugged. “He said he wanted it to protect us, in case of an emergency.”

 _That_ Yoongi could believe. It was very much a Jin thing to do, to forget about himself for the sake of taking care of them. “How much did he take?”

“A lot. I didn’t count it.” Namjoon pointed to the room where Jin still was. “It’s in there.”

“Is he in there too?”

“Yeah.”

Yoongi still had his doubts about the whole thing not being a practical joke and walked quickly to the room. Inside looked just as it had this morning when he’d left. Except for a thick stack of money sitting on top of the dresser and Jin was curled up in the corner of his bed.

“Yoongi?” he croaked, voice hoarse from crying. His eyes were red and his face was swollen.

“You did do it.” Yoongi looked from the money to Jin and back again a few times as it finally sunk in. “Jin, how could you?”

“I just wanted to—” He reached out to Yoongi.

The short man jerked away. “You fucking tell us not to use our powers or do anything bad, when you’ve robbed _a goddamn bank?_ Are you kidding me?”

“Yoongi, please,” Jin begged, more tears welling up in his eyes but Yoongi couldn’t look at him any longer. “I never spent any of it! I’ve regretted it since I took it. _Please.”_

“Whatever.” Yoongi marched out of the room and to the front door where he shoved his shoes back on. “I’m leaving.”

“Yoongi,” Jin said, stumbling out of his room. “Listen to me.”

“Why should I?” Yoongi roared, making both Namjoon and Jin flinch. In all their time, Yoongi had never shouted at anyone, not like that. “Why should anyone listen to you? When you don’t feel the need to follow the same rules? You’re a fuckin’ hypocrite and I’m done looking at you.”

The door slammed shut and the apartment fell silent, but for Jin’s quiet sobs. 

 


	33. Chapter 33

Hoseok was surprised when Yoongi walked into the restaurant, face twisted in anger. “Hyung?” Hoseok said as he approached the table. Luckily he was seated in Hoseok’s area, which gave them reason to talk. “What are you doing here?” He set down a glass of water, which Yoongi ignored.

“When do you two get off?”

“In an hour? Why? Did something happen? Is everyone okay?”

Yoongi didn’t look at him, fidgeting with his fingers. “Just get me a coffee and some cake or something. I’ll tell you later.”

The younger sighed, going to put the order in and get Yoongi his coffee. “Some kind of cake? You couldn’t even be bothered to choose?” Hoseok picked out something that looked chocolatey enough to kill a small child, thinking that might appease the grumpy hyung.

He continued working hard, trying to focus on his job, but his eyes would drift over to the table where Yoongi was sitting, staring out the window with a trouble expression. Finally, the shift ended and after taking care of his last customer, he headed into the back to take off his apron and clock out.

Jimin was already there, waiting for him. “Today was so tiring. It felt like there were twice as many dishes than usual.”

“Yoongi showed up,” Hoseok told him in a quiet voice. They walked out of the back of the restaurant, spotting the man in question waiting at the end of the little alley. “He said he had something to talk about.”

“Should I go home alone then?” Jimin asked. A hint of bitterness entered his tone when he continued. “Or am I going to be allowed to listen this time?”

“I don’t know.”

Yoongi was lost in thought when they reached him, jumping when Hoseok cleared his throat. “Oh. You’re done. Finally.”

“What’s up, hyung?” Hoseok asked as they walked down the street, heading for home. Yoongi moved a bit more hesitantly when he realized where they were going. “What happened?”

“Jin—” Shit, how was he going to explain this whole situation? Both of the other boys were looking at him curiously. “Jin did a bad thing.”

“A bad thing?” Hoseok repeated. “We’re not children you know. What did he do?”

By then they had entered the subway station they usually took. Yoongi looked around at the people crowding them. “It’d be better to explain when we get there. Where no one can overhear.”

“Then why bother coming to get us?” Jimin asked, annoyed at not knowing.

Yoongi glared at him. “I didn’t want to stay there.”

There was silence between the three for the rest of the journey home.

~

Taehyung and Jungkook could hear shouting before they had even opened the door. It was muffled, but Jungkook was sure that he had caught the words ‘lie’ and ‘Jin.’ “What’s going on?” Taehyung mumbled as he opened it.

They were greeted with Jin, eyes red and very upset, practically backed against the wall while Yoongi and Hoseok were shouting at each other and at him. Namjoon was sitting in a chair watching everything with nothing to say. Jimin looked terrified and close to tears where he was curled up into a ball on the couch.

“Hyungs?” Taehyung said.

“Taehyungie, why don’t you and Jungkoo—” Jin started to say before being cut off.

“Shut up, Jin,” Yoongi snapped. “Don’t talk to them.”

Hoseok rolled his eyes. “Hyung, stop that. You need to calm down. Let’s all just talk about this.”

“What’s the _point_ of talking about it? He lied to us! He robbed a fucking bank, what more is there to talk about?”

Jungkook and Taehyung exchanged glances, silently asking each other what the heck was going on. “Jin robbed a bank?” The youngest repeated. When he walked a little farther into the room, he noticed a large stack of money on the table. “When? Is he going to get arrested? Should we leave?”

“We’re not leaving,” Namjoon said finally, the only calm person in the room. “Yoongi hyung, Hoseok’s right. We should all just sit down and talk about this. You’re overreacting.”

Yoongi glared at him but sat down next to Jimin, arms crossed. “Fine. Let’s _talk_ shall we?”

Taehyung and Jungkook both took a seat on the floor in front of the tv while Hoseok sat on the couch on the other side of Jimin and Jin sat on the last chair. It was quiet for a few moments, everyone afraid to begin. “Should we start from the beginning?” Namjoon suggested. “So everyone knows what’s going on.” Six pairs of eyes turned to look at Jin whose flushed cheeks turned even more red.

“I did take the money from a bank.” Jungkook felt his heart stutter once, and then his blood ran hot and angry. He didn’t want to believe it. Why would his perfect hyung, who only ever thought of protecting them to the point of not considering his own needs, do something as reckless as that. “It was in the first town we stopped in after leaving the hotel. I was scared that something would come up and we wouldn’t be able to get out of it on our own. So, yes, I took it. But I never lied to any of you.”

Yoongi scoffed. “Lying by omission is still lying, hyung. You were the one who told us that, remember?”

Jin flinched. “I’m sorry. I really am. I know that I shouldn’t have done it, and I never spent a single cent of it. It was meant only for an emergency.”

“What would you have told us if there was an emergency, and suddenly you had all this money?” Hoseok asked. “How would you explain that?”

“I’d have told you the truth.”

“Would you?” Yoongi said.

“Hyung, please.” Namjoon’s voice was soft and low, smooth as silk, but Jungkook was having a hard time believing that he was as calm about this as he looked. There was no way. _Jin,_ the one they called their mom, had lied to them, had been lying to them, for months and all the time that they had scraped by and worked as hard as they could, he’d had enough money to buy them a house. “Try to think clearly.”

“I don’t need to be told that by you, Namjoon.” Yoongi squinted at him suspiciously. “You’re too calm about this. Did you know about it?”


	34. Chapter 34

Namjoon looked offended. “Hyung, I was literally the one who told you about it.”

“Oh.” Yoongi sat back in his seat. “Right. Sorry.”

Hoseok rolled his eyes. “How’d you find it anyway, Namjoon?”

“I was looking for my sweatpants and thought Jin might have them. It was hidden in the back of his dresser drawer.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about it before, hyung?” Taehyung asked. He seemed pretty relaxed about as well, but then again, Taehyung was hard to read when he wanted to be. “If you had told us sooner…” He didn’t finish, but they all felt that it would have been easier to accept that it had happened. “Or you could have gotten rid of the money. Given it to charity or something. Didn’t you feel guilty?”

“Of course I felt guilty!” Jin shouted. His eyes widened in surprise at himself, lowering his volume. “Of course I felt guilty. I wanted to get rid of it and I tried to, a couple times, but I kept thinking about what if we needed it and I had gotten rid of it. I was terrified.”

“You still should have told us, at least,” Hoseok said. “You didn’t have to handle this all on your own. We’re not children, hyung.”

Jin didn’t respond to that. He was staring down at the ground, broad shoulders hunched over and his arms wrapped around his body. It was like he was wrapping in on himself, hoping that if he got small enough he’d disappear.

“What are we going to do with it?”

Everyone looked at Jungkook now. “We can’t exactly return it now, can we? So what do we do?”

“Give it away,” Hoseok, Taehyung, and Jimin said.

The other three said to keep it for themselves.

Jin said nothing.

“It’s not our money, hyungs,” Jimin argued. “How can we keep it, knowing it was stolen?”

Yoongi shook his head. “But it’s so much. We could stop having to be so damn worried about having jobs and being able to pay rent all the time.”

“It’s still not _ours,_ though,” Hoseok said.

Namjoon sighed. “We’ve had it for months now, whether we all knew it or not. And it’s not like we’d spend it all at once on stuff we don’t need. It’d just be a little extra breathing room, you know?”

“But—”

“Taehyung, there’s no way that we can give it all away,” Yoongi snapped. “It’s not going to happen.”

“What if we gave a way part of it?” Jin suggested. They all turned their attention back to him. “We keep half, and the other half is donated to somewhere. Just—Just a suggestion. You don’t have to listen to me.” The oldest went back to looking at the floor.

Yoongi and Taehyung looked like they didn’t even want to consider it, but Hoseok and Namjoon were nodding. “That sounds reasonable at least,” Namjoon conceded. “There is a lot here, so it’s not like we need all of it.”

“How much is there, exactly?” Hoseok directed this question back to Jin.

Jin shrugged. “I didn’t count it. I didn’t really want to interact with it at all, honestly.”

“A thief and an idiot,” Yoongi remarked. It earned him a few dirty looks from the others, but he didn’t bother to notice as he kneeled next to the coffee table and began counting the money. It took a little while, with the boys being dead silent. “Twelve thousand.”

“Holy shit,” Hoseok said. “He may be an idiot, but he’s one of hell of a thief.”

The oldest made a weird sort of squeak, like he was going to say something but stopped himself. They all looked at him questioningly. “I just don’t like being called a thief. But it is true, so.”

Yoongi looked like he was going to say more harsh things, so Hoseok cut him off. “So we’ll be giving six thousand away, and keeping six thousand for ourselves.”

“Why do we have to do it in halves though?” Jungkook asked. “Wouldn’t it be smarter to keep a larger portion for ourselves? We’re not exactly rich, and if we have to move again that would be a huge help.”

Taehyung frowned at him. “Don’t be so selfish, Jungkookie. We’ve been fine on our own up til now without the money. We should give away more. Other people could really use it.”

“It’s not like any of _those_ people got experimented on and had to escape. They’re not on the run from some crazy scientist guys,” Jungkook fought back. “We need it more.”

“Boys, don’t fight.” Namjoon sighed. He was far too tired for this, having been unable to sleep since he got home. He’d been awake for over twenty four hours now. Thank God, it was the weekend and he didn’t have to work tonight. Jin did though… “Look, let’s take a break and think it over. We’ll take a vote tomorrow okay?”

“A vote?” Jimin asked.

“It’d be more fair that way. And there’d be less arguing.” He glanced at Yoongi. “But we all have to agree that whatever it comes down to is what we go with, no matter what, okay?”

“Okay,” they agreed.

“What about Jin?” Taehyung asked. “Does he get to vote too?”

“No.” Shockingly, it was Jin himself who answered. “I already made a really shit choice with it. I can’t be trusted. I’ll stay out of it.”

“That’s not fair,” Jimin spoke up. “You’re still part of the group.”

“I think it’s fair,” Yoongi grumbled.

Jin shook his head. “It’d be better for everyone if I didn’t. I wouldn’t know what to choose anyways.”

They seprated after that, heading into their own rooms. Yoongi went to Jungkook’s room, telling Namjoon that they were switching beds. Namjoon went along with it without argument.

“I think I’m going to take a walk,” Jin said, when Namjoon was the only one left in the living room. “I need to get out of here and clear my head a bit.”

“You’ll come back right?”

“Yeah. I can’t abandon you guys. Ever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A second chapter for today for missing one on the second.


	35. Chapter 35

The leaves had already begun to change in some places, Jin noticed as he strolled through the park. The air had crispiness to it as it blew, shaking a few leaves down form the branches. One flew under his foot, trapping it there. He stared down at it for a moment before moving on.

It was already beginning to get dark, sunset having started its creep into early in the day. Jin wondered what the park would look like covered in snow, wondered if they would be around to see it. He imagined the seven of them playing in the fresh snow, starting snowball fights and making snowmen, before going back home to snuggle under blankets and drink hot chocolate and watch winter movies.

He sighed, shaking his head to get rid of the daydream. It wasn’t worth getting his hopes up. Who knew where they would be in a month or two? This was the first time they had settled in to stay for the long run, but just because they wanted to stay here for a while, didn’t mean that they would be able to. _As long as we’re together and they don’t catch us…_ Jin thought.

With a shiver, Jin looked around the immediate area, feeling as if he was being watched. There was no one, but the man had almost expected to see one of the men in white coming towards him. “They haven’t found us, you idiot,” he muttered to himself, calming his pounding heart.

Jin turned around and started back towards the apartment. He couldn’t say the walk had helped any, but hopefully Namjoon was asleep by then and he could sneak in without having to deal with looking at him.

He didn’t see the black silhouette slinking out from behind a tree to follow him.

~

Yoongi sat up in his bed, unable to sleep. It _bothered_ him. Jin had lied and betrayed nearly everything they believed in, things he himself had told them so many times.

Getting up, he padded quietly across the room. There was someone messing around in the kitchen, so he made his way towards it, making sure not to make a sound. If it was Jin baking for whatever reason, he didn’t want to be seen.

“Jiminnie?”

The younger jumped, turning around. The pudding cups and lunch meat fell from his hands, clattering to the floor. “Hyung! You nearly gave me a heart attack,” he whisper shouted as he bent over to pick up the food.

“What are you doing up?” Yoongi asked, walking closer and leaning against the counter. “It’s pretty late for a snack, don’t you think?”

The clock on the microwave said that it was nearly one in the morning. “I guess. But I couldn’t sleep with all that’s happened and then I got hungry so…” He set the food down on the counter. “Do you want a sandwich hyung?”

“Sure. Make mine with cheese please.”

“I’m not your slave.”

“I said please.”

Jimin sighed, grabbing the loaf of bread. He rummaged through the refridgerator a bit more to grab Yoongi’s single slice of cheese and got busy making the two sandwiches. “We really shouldn’t be eating this late, you know. We’ll get fat.”

The older male shrugged, opening a pudding cup. “So?” He reached over and pinched at Jimin’s stomach. “You look cuter when you’re a little chubby.”

“Hyung,” Jimin whined, slapping his hand away. “I do _not.”_

“Do too.” Yoongi held a spoonful of pudding in front of Jimin’s lips. Jimin resolutely kept his mouth closed. “C’mon, do it for your favorite hyung. I love you, Jiminie~”

“Don’t be gr—ack!” The boy nearly choked when Yoongi forced the spoon into his mouth. “Hyung, you’re so mean.”

Yoongi chuckled, tossing the now empty pudding cup in the garbage and placing the spoon in the sink. “But you still love me. You even made me a sandwich see?” He picked up said sandwich, now completed. “Let’s watch something, okay?”

“But what if we wake someone up?”

“We’ll keep the volume low.” Yoongi patted his hair, nudging him towards the living room. “It’ll be fine. No one’s woken up before.”

They sat quietly on the couch for a while, watching some documentary about wildlife in a distant place. Both had finished their sandwiches and the remaining pudding cups Jimin had gotten out, and now were cuddled up on the couch. Jimin was leaning against Yoongi, the soft and soothing voice on the TV beginning to lull him to sleep. “Hyung, how often do you watch TV in the middle of the night?”

“Not that often.” Yoongi leaned his cheek on Jimin’s enjoying the soft warmth of having the boy next to him. “Sometimes I can’t sleep, or I’ll wake up too early for work and have time to waste. Sometimes I just like to watch it alone in the dark.”

“That’s weird.”

Yoongi laughed. “I guess so. But it’s nice.”

“Do you ever leave the apartment?” Jimin asked. “In the middle of the night, I mean.”

“Why would I?”

Jimin shrugged. “I don’t know. To walk around?”

“Do you want to?”

“What?”

“Do you want to go walk around in the middle of the night?”

“Like right now?”

“If you want.”

The younger was quiet for a few minutes after that, considering it. The silence only confirmed Yoongi’s suspicious, having only jokingly asked if Jimin had wanted to go at first. On the television screen, a zebra was being taken down by a pack of lions after being separated from the herd.

“I do.” Jimin looked up at him, their faces close. “I want to go.”

The TV was switched off and they quietly go bundled up, Yoongi insisting on wrapping Jimin up in one of the ridiculously long scarves he had gotten. “It’ll be pretty cold out there at this time of the night. I don’t want you getting a cold.”

“What about you, hyung?”

“Hyung is impervious to the cold. It’s one of my secret superpowers.”

“Hyung is stupid, which is also part of his superpowers. Just not a secret one.”

“We can still not go.”

They went, leaving the quiet apartment behind. Yoongi pretended he couldn’t feel the weight of it on his heart. Just as he pretended not to feel the weight of the small bundle tucked into his pocket. 


	36. Chapter 36

The streets were dead still, almost scarily so, but Jimin found it calming. Perhaps that wouldn’t have been true if Yoongi wasn’t at his side. The older man’s presence had been a source of comfort for him since the day they met.

~

_Jimin was terrified. He didn’t know where he was or why his entire body ached so badly. The room he was in was strange, everything pure white, even the bed. Soft blueish lights that ringed around the room on the walls were the only source of light. There was no furniture except for the bed._

_He was wearing different clothes, he noticed when he sat up. They looked a bit like fancy pajamas, loose fitting, with a button up shirt. Uncomfortable though, and itchy. They were also white._

_The boy waited for something to happen, someone to enter the room perhaps, but nothing did. He got out of the bed, padding across the room quietly. It seemed wrong to make any sort of noise at all in that quiet, quiet room._

_There was a door, but no handle or anyway to open it. Jimin wondered if it even was a door and not just the outline of one. He knocked on it, wincing at the loud sound that echoed around the room. Nothing happened._

_He went back and sat on the bed, wrapped in the itchy sheet. It was a long wait._

_The door opened, and he was able to access a lit corridor outside of the room. He followed the lights, not sure of what else he was supposed to do. At the end, there was another room. The inside was larger and there were more beds, these ones stacked._

_There was a person in one, he discovered, when said person moved. It was a boy, a little older than himself. He was short and pale, with sleepy looking eyes and a grumpy expression. He didn’t look too surprised or interested in Jimin._

_“Can you tell me what’s going on?” he asked, voice trembling._

_The other rolled his eyes. “You made a mistake, kid. You sold your soul for cardboard and superpowers.” He laid back down in his bed, lifting up the covers. “C’mere. You’re gonna crash soon, might as well crash here.”_

_Jimin stared at him for a moment, and he glared back. Giving in, Jimin walked over and crawled onto the space the other had made for him. The blanket was lowered on him, and he found himself far too close to a person he had just bed. The other’s breath tickled his ear every time he breathed out._

_“What’s your name?” he was asked. The voice was slurred somewhat, as if the speaker was drunk, but there was no scent of alcohol on his breath._

_“Jimin. Park Jimin.”_

_“Remember your name, Park Jimin. Remember where you came from and who you are. Repeat it to yourself every night before you sleep. They’ll try to make you forget in this place, so you have to be strong.”_

_“What’s your name?”_

_“Min Yoongi.” Yoongi rested an arm around Jimin, loosely enough to be considered casual, if a bit overly friendly. “Go to sleep. The others will be back soon and they’ll want to talk to you. Get some rest while you can.”_

_Despite being sure that he wouldn’t be able to get any sort of rest with this strange person so close to him, Jimin felt his eyes getting heavier and his thoughts were getting clouded. “Thank you, hyung.”_

_“Anytime Jimin. I will always be here for you.”_

~

“This is really nice, hyung,” Jimin said as they walked past the park. He was beaming, looking around at the shadow coated streets. “Everything looks so different than it usually does during the day. It’s so weird.”

Yoongi stopped walking. “Jimin, you should go back to the apartment.”

“Eh? Why? We can enjoy it a little bit longer, right?” He was doing the puppy dog eyes thing again and if Yoongi had been able to look Jimin in the eyes, he wouldn’t have been able to say no.

Instead, Yoongi shook his head. “It’d be best if you go back now.”

Jimin frowned. “Why does it sound like you’re not coming back with me?”

The lump in his pocket felt bigger and heavier than ever. “I won’t be. I’m gonna leave for a while.”

“What?” Jimin screeched. “Leave? Are you crazy? For how long? Where are you gonna go?”

Yoongi could only sigh, waiting for the younger to calm down enough to answer the questions. “I need to get away for a bit. This whole thing… I just need a break.”

“So you’ll come back?” Jimin’s voice was wavering like he was about to start crying. “You’re not gonna leave me forever right?”

He took a step forward, cupping Jimin’s face in his hands. “Of course, I’m not leaving you forever. I said I’d always take care of you right?” Jimin nodded, sniffling. “This is just for a bit. I need to see what else it out there, and I can’t do that if I have six other people to worry about too.”

“What about one person?”

“What?”

“What if you only had one person to worry about? You could still do what you want to right?”

Yoongi caught onto what he was trying to suggest. “You can’t come with me, Jimin. You’ll be safer with the others, happier.”

He didn’t expect Jimin to shove him stumbling back, nearly making him fall on the cold concrete. “How can you say that? Do you really think that I could just go through life not knowing if you were okay, or if you were sick, or if you needed help? I wouldn’t last a week, and the others wouldn’t be able to handle it either. You can’t leave, hyung. Not like this.”

There were tears running down Jimin’s face, sparkling in the streetlamp light. “Jimin, if I didn’t leave like this, I wouldn’t be able to leave.” He pressed their foreheads together, closing his eyes. “I know it’ll be hard at first, but have faith in me. I will do everything in my power to come back to you, all of you.”

“What if we move before you do? You won’t be able to find us.”

“I’ll search the entire world. I’m fast enough. I’ll find you.”

Jimin let out a watery giggle. “You’ll message me, right?”

“I left my phone behind.”

“Hyung.” Jimin let out a deep breath. “Don’t leave me behind then.”

“Jimin, I told you, you can’t.”

“I’ll follow you.” Yoongi pulled back, staring at the determined look that had overtaken Jimin’s eyes. “If you don’t let me come with you, I’ll follow you.”

“No.” Yoongi shook his head. “That’s too dangerous, you can’t.”

“Then you can’t leave.”

“Why are you _like_ this?” the older man hissed. “You’re so damn stubborn.”

“I learned from my hyung.” Jimin crossed his arms and set his shoulders straight. “Now, are we going to the apartment or somewhere else.”

Yoongi groaned. “I’m pretty sure that you didn’t learn that from me. You look too much like Jin right now.” He sighed, looking up and down the quiet street. “Alright. Fucking fine. Come on. But no complaining. You wanted to come.”

“As long as I am with you, anything is fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep getting a flood of comments with every chapter and it makes me so happy. Now if only I could remember to post them earlier...


	37. Chapter 37

Hoseok was having another nightmare. Taehyung woke up to a dark room filled with the soft, crying whimpers and frantic rustling coming from Hoseok’s bed. He’d long since gotten used to waking up to someone having nightmares. While Jungkook’s own nightmares had all but stopped after they’d escaped from the facility, Hoseok’s had not. They weren’t frequent, but they were awful and Hoseok would be completely exhausted for the entirety of the next day.

The younger boy got out of bed and made his way over to Hoseok’s beneath the window. Hoseok was tangled in the sheets and blankets, sweat dampening his hair and face. Gently, Taehyung shook the older boy, whispering his name insistently.

Hoseok awoke with a gasp, flinching away from Taehyung at first before coming back to his senses. “Taehyung?” His voice was rough and cracked.

“You had another bad dream, hyung,” Taehyung said. He sat on the edge of Hoseok’s bed. “Do you want some water?”

The other boy nodded, and Taehyung got up and grabbed a cold water bottle from the fridge. When he returned, Hoseok was much calmer, his breathing having evened out. He took the water gratefully, gulping down half of it. While he did, Taehyung glanced at Jimin’s bed, noticing only now that the other was gone. “Jimin’s not here.”

“Maybe he’d sleeping with Yoongi. I didn’t hear him leave.”

“Me either.”

There was a comfortable silence between them for a few minutes, Hoseok finishing off the bottle of water. “What did you dream about?”

“The same thing as always.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” Hoseok set the bottle on the bedside table. “I’m sorry for waking you up.”

Taehyung shook his head. “It’s not a big deal. It’s not like you want to keep having these dreams.”

“Yeah.” The older looked out the window, noticing two figures walking along the street in the distance. There was something familiar about them, but his frazzled mind couldn’t quite place it. “There is one nice thing about them, though.” Taehyung looked at him curiously. There was no judgment there in those eyes circled with long lashes. There never was and it made Hoseok feel like he could tell Taehyung anything, everything he was too afraid to tell the others. “I get to see his face. Sometimes I’m scared that I’ll forget it, but I can’t.”

The young teen nodded. “I can understand that. I—I think I’ve forgotten it.” He looked down at his hands. “I wish we had something to remember him by. A photo or something. So we could honor him properly.”

“We could always go find his family,” Hoseok said with a laugh.

Taehyung looked up at him, surprised. “We _could._ ”

The older man stared at him in disbelief. “We’d have no idea where to start. Don’t be ridiculous Taehyung. And Jin would never spring for it.”

“He’s from Travue City, right? He talked about the fireworks festival there all the time. We could start there and ask around if anyone knew him.”

“But Jin—“

“Jin doesn’t have to know.”

Hoseok looked even more disbelieving now. “Taehyung what the fuck? You’re not suggesting that we actually _leave_ Jin and the others? To go off on some wild goose chase to find someone we don’t even know exists? They might not even care about it. It’s not like any of us would have gone to the facility if we had a proper family to take care of us.”

“Hyosang was part of our family. And we have to do something. It feels wrong, just ignoring what happened all the time.”

“I don’t mind it so much…” His eyes widened, shocked out how the words had sounded outside of his head. “I mean, I just—it’s hard for me, you know? I don’t mean that I didn’t care for him or that I don’t miss him every day and regret what happened constantly, it’s just…”

Taehyung leaned his head on Hoseok’s shoulder. “I know what you mean, hyung. But what if this helps… I don’t know, put him to rest? And then you can finally get some closure and maybe the nightmares will stop.”

“It’s still too dangerous and uncertain. And I don’t like the idea of sneaking off without telling Jin hyung. He’ll practically kill himself worrying about us.”

“We’ll leave a note explaining everything and telling him we’ll be back in, say, two weeks. Even if we don’t find who we’re looking for, we’ll come back once those two weeks are up.”

Hoseok still looked quite nervous about the whole thing. “I don’t think I go pretending like something isn’t up. Jin’ll find out. You know how bad of a liar I am.”

“You are a pretty shit liar,” Taehyung agreed, thinking hard. “We’ll have to leave tonight then.” Hoseok stared at him in unbelieving shock for the third time that night. “That way we don’t have to face Jin or the others. And Jimin isn’t here so it’s the perfect time.”

Already decided, Taehyung went to the closet and grabbed the two backpacks that all seven of them kept packed at the ready in case they had to leave super quickly. There was a couple changes of clothes, a few items that they couldn’t bear to be without, and whatever savings they had managed to store up.  

“I’ll right the note, okay?”

As he scribbled away at a piece of paper, the realization of what they were doing had fully begun to set into Hoseok’s mind. _I should stop this. I’m the hyung. I shouldn’t be allowing Taehyung to even think about doing something so dangerous and stupid. I should be protecting him._

“Alright, I’m done. I explained everything, except where we’re going exactly, in case Jin hyung decided to follow us. Let’s go.”


	38. Chapter 38

The apartment was quiet except for Namjoon’s snores the next morning. Jin woke up and squinted around the room. Something was off, he could _feel_ it. ‘Mom senses’ Jungkook called them, but at times Jin wondered if maybe they had actually given him some sort of extra sense when they’d given him the ability to walk through walls.

Jin got out of bed, somewhat careful to be quiet as to not wake Namjoon, but from the way the younger was snoring and drooling on himself, it would take a lot more than just a creaky floorboard to wake him up.

There was no one in the living room or the kitchen, which Jin found somewhat odd, but then again everything was sort of odd at the moment. The money was still sitting on the coffee table. Jin flinched away when his eyes had landed on it.

Still, he felt something was wrong. So he went to check on the boys. He looked in Jungkook and what was supposed to be Namjoon’s room first. Jungkook was there, dead to the world as usual, but Yoongi’s bed was empty.

 _In with Jimin, maybe?_ He thought to himself as he closed the door quietly. Yoongi wasn’t generally one to switch beds after he’d decided to sleep in one, but Jimin was a special case. Of course, it was also likely that he’d gone out for whatever reason.

The three person room sent his heart rate into nearly heart attack levels. All the beds were empty. That had never happened before on a Saturday. It was the day that most of them got to sleep in late, and they always took advantage of it. A piece of paper sitting on Hoseok’s bedside table, held in place by an empty water bottle, captured his attention. When he drew closer, he recognized Taehyung’s thin, loopy writing.

 

_Dear Jin hyung and others,_

_Hoseok and I have decided to seek Hyosang’s family and tell them what happened in the facility in order to put his memory to rest properly. It’s very important to Hoseok and to all of us. We will be back within two weeks. We’ll be safe. Please do not worry._

_Love, Taehyung._

 

“Namjoon!” Jin shouted. He read the note over again, feeling like his lungs had vanished from his chest. “Namjoon, get your ass in here!”

That finally got Namjoon out of bed and running into the room. “What’s going on?” There was still some drool on his chin. Jin shoved the letter into his hands. He sunk onto Hoseok’s bed while the other read it. “They left?”

Jin nodded, hiding his face into his hands. “They just _left._ They didn’t even wait to talk about it, or anything.” He froze. “What if—what if they didn’t want to be around me? Because of what I did.”

“Jin hyung, that’s not it.” Namjoon sighed, sitting next to him. “This is about Hyosang. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. They might have completely forgotten about what happened when they decided to leave.” He leaned his head on Jin’s shoulders. “They said they’ll be back in two weeks. Everything’ll be fine. Hoseok can take care of Taehyung and Taehyung will look after Hoseok.”

“Are you sure only Taehyung and Hoseok left? I can’t find Yoongi or Jimin either.”

“The letter only mentions Hoseok and Taehyung. Maybe Jimin and Yoongi are just out. They’ll come back. Just wait a bit.” He patted Jin’s back and stood up. “C’mon. Let’s wake up up Jungkook and get started on breakfast. I guarantee you those two will be back by the time we finish. Especially with how long it takes to get that kid out of bed.”

The older man didn’t want to wait or pretend like everything was alright. His mind was already filled with terrible simulations of what could be happening to them. Maybe they had gone off too, considering how angry Yoongi had been yesterday. Jin wouldn’t really be surprised. Taehyung and Hoseok probably would come back, but Yoongi….

 _Why’d he have to take Jimin too?_ He wondered as he wandered into the kitchen. Absentmindedly, he pulled out a carton of eggs and a skillet. There was no doubt in Jin’s mind that Yoongi wouldn’t look after Jimin and protect him with everything he had, but still. It seemed a bit fishy. Jimin would have told them if he’d left, either with a note or something. But there was nothing.

As an egg was frying in the pan, Jin poked his head out into the living room, checking the coffee table or surrounding area for a note. There was nothing but the money. He went back to cooking, trying not to think about anything.

“Hyung?” Jungkook mumbled, as he entered the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Where’d everyone go?”

Jin didn’t look up from where he was placing the food onto a plate. “They’ll be out for a while. How do you want your eggs?” There was no other answer besides Jungkook opening the fridge. “Jungkook?”

“Yoongi and Jimin left at two in the morning. How much longer do you think they’ll be?” Jungkook’s voice was neutral, but when Jin turned to stare at him, the younger looked tense as he stared at the contents of the fridge. He shut the door and turned to look at Jin, dark eyes the only thing giving away how angry he was. “And Taehyung and Hoseok left a little while after that.”

“Hosoek and Taehyung will be back in two weeks.” It was all he could think to say. _Did Yoongi and Jimin really leave that early?_ If they had, then it was very unlikely that they would be coming back soon. Unless, they had meant to and gotten kidnapped or hurt… “How do you want your eggs?”

Jungkook didn’t answer once again. The younger turned away and walked out of the room. Jin looked down at the eggs he’d made for himself, feeling sick at the sight of them.

Everything was falling apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I missed a day again so here's a second chapter to get all caught up. I don't think that I will be posting part three (when the story gets there) right away, as there are some things that I want to change and rearrange, so there may be a slight gap between the end of part 2 and when part 3 begins, but I will try to get it sorted out and start posting it before the year ends. I'm almost done with college so I'll have a lot of time on my hands to do it. 
> 
> P.S. Good luck to anyone who has finals still. Remember to drink water and take little breaks. I believe in you


	39. Chapter 39

Jimin huddled closer to Yoongi, tucking his fingers into the collar of his shirt to warm them. The back of the truck they were riding in was freezing, despite being covered. There were a few boxes between them and the entrance, blocking them off from the rest of the world. It was the best they could manage on short notice in the middle of the night without having to pay.

Of course, they’d have to run when the truck stopped before they got caught, but it wasn’t the worst way they’d ever traveled.

“How far do you think we’ll be able to go?” Jimin asked, leaning over closer to Yoongi’s ear so he could be heard. The wind was loud, but they had to keep their voices down just in case the man driving the truck wouldn’t hear them. “Where do you think we’re going?”

“Who knows?” Yoongi had been dozing on off during the trip and wasn’t particularly in the mood for talking. His toes felt like they were made of ice and it wasn’t helping anything. “Probably pretty far away, with how early he left.”

Jimin nodded and let the conversation drop. He wondered what was in the boxes and where they were going to go. Yoongi dozed off beside him. Jimin wondered if the others had discovered that they’d left by now. He didn’t regret coming with Yoongi, but it would have been nice if he’d been able to leave some sort of message behind at least.

Suddenly a siren split the air, making both of them jerk to attention. They felt the truck they were in start to slow down and pull off to the side of the road. “Jimin, get ready,” Yoongi whispered when the truck came to a stop. The sirens shut off

They could hear the sound of a car door and someone approaching the vehicles. Muffled voices followed it, close enough so that the two boys could catch a few words, but not enough to make sense. They hardly dared to breathe or move, lest they make a sound and get caught.

There was shouting then. Yoongi thought the driver might be making a run for it. And then a gunshot split the air and it was quiet.

Jimin was pale, biting down on his thumb to keep from making any sort of noise. Yoongi refused to let any emotion show on his face, focusing all his attention on what was happening outside. Footsteps crunched on gravel as someone approached the back of the truck, lifting up the flap that covered the back.

The two were hidden behind the boxes, unseen but also unseeing. In the now brighter light, Jimin noticed a symbol on a nearby box, recognizing it from somewhere but unable to place it. The symbol consisted of a stylized woman with a sword in one hand and handful of fire in the other, drawn in solid black lines.

“Alright, we got it. Let’s get this stuff unpacked and shipped back to evidence,” the man said, letting the flap float back down into place. “We finally caught a break. We’re gonna find that fuckin’ facility, I can feel it.”

That’s when it clicked. The facility. The one that they were from. That symbol had been on the walls of the testing rooms, on the breast pocket of the white guards. He’d barely remembered it, having tried to block out as much as he could of his time in the facility.

He looked over at Yoongi, seeing that he’d also recognized it. It seemed that no matter how hard or far they tried to escape, the facility had some way of haunting them.

Getting out the truck was going to be tricky. They were planning on moving the boxes out before they were going to move the truck, and by the sound of it, more and more cars were approaching and parking behind it. There was no real way that they would both be able to get out of there without being seen. Yoongi could do it by himself of course, but Jimin would be left behind.

For the moment though, it seemed that they weren’t too focused on the back. Yoongi crept forward, crawling on his stomach, trying to get a good look out of the back of the truck. He gestured for Jimin to come forward too. Jimin did, surprised at the numerous police cars surrounding them, the violent orange and white color of them making his eyes nearly water.

“See that car?” Yoongi pointed to the one that was farthest away. “Do you think that you can lift it? Not too high, but enough to get their attention?”

Jimin shrugged. He’d lifted objects just as heavy or just as far before, but not something that was heavy _and_ far. “Not easily, but I think so.”

“But will you be able to move while doing it?”

“Probably not.” The younger squinted, lifting his head up a bit farther. “I could probably knock it over at least. That’d be distracting right?”

“I guess. When you do, we’ll have to sprint over to the trees, okay? As fast as you can and don’t stop.” Yoongi ran a hand through his hair. “Hopefully they won’t spot us until we’re nearly there, but we have to keep going until we’ve properly lost them.”

“I know, hyung. You’re starting to sound like Jin.” Jimin smiled, before focusing in on the car. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go then.” Jimin focused on the car, forcing it up with all his might. It hurt, and he felt as if something _popped,_ but the car went up a few feet, higher than he might have expected, and came crashing back down to Earth. All the policemen in the area turned to stare at it and that’s when Jimin and Yoongi leapt out of the truck, sprinting with all they had towards the line of trees. It was farther than Yoongi had thought and they were only three quarters of the way there when he heard someone shout behind them.

They made it beneath the cool darkness of the trees and while Yoongi wanted to feel safe, he knew the police would already be charging after them. He wished he could just zoom away, but Jimin was with him and he’d promised to always be with him.

So they ran together, side by side, the sounds of pursuit in the distance.


	40. Chapter 40

The apartment felt empty and too quiet the rest of the weekend, once Jin was done frantically calling Yoongi and Jimin and discovering that both of their phones had been left behind. Jungkook vanished into his room, only appearing to use the bathroom or get food from the kitchen. He only answered to Namjoon, and even then, his words were short and terse.

Jin was almost relieved when Sunday night rolled around, until he peeked into Jungkook’s room while the younger was out and noticed that the picture frame Jungkook had placed a group photo of them in was empty. The frame they’d picked up at some garage sale along the way, but the photo they’d taken during their time at the hotel, the first one they’d taken with Jin’s polaroid camera. It was a little worn around the edges from being carried around in in pocket, but Jungkook had kept a hold of it all of this time.

Jin stared at the tarnished, empty frame for a moment before backing out of the room. The shower was still running, Jungkook finally being able to take as long as he wanted.

“Namjoon,” Jin said, walking into his own room. Namjoon had spent last night in there and was planning on staying that night as well, not wanting to leave Jin by himself to worry all night. “Don’t go to work tonight.”

“Hmm? Why?”

Jin sat on his bed, bringing his knees up to his chest. “I think Jungkook’s going to leave as well.” _It’s just a photo,_ he told himself. “I want you to stay here and be ready to go with him, if he does.”

“Wha--? What are you talking about Jin? Jungkook’s not going to leave by himself.” Namjoon returned his attention to his book. “You’re getting paranoid.”

“I have the right to be, don’t I?” Jin snapped. Namjoon looked up at him, expression unreadable. “I’m sorry. Just, could you do it for me? I can’t do it, because he wouldn’t let me go with him, but I can’t let him go alone and…”

Namjoon sighed. “Fine. But I still doubt that he’s going to go anywhere. He’s just upset that he got left behind. He’ll get over it.”

“Just promise me you’ll go with him.”

“Not to make him stay?”

Jin shook his head, looking out the window. “I don’t want to force him to stay only to have him sneak off later. He’s not a prisoner here. I just don’t want him to be alone out there.”

“But it’s okay for you to be alone in here?”

“It’s different.”

“If Jungkook and I leave, then what will you do?”

“Stay here. Wait for Taehyung and Hoseok. Jimin and Yoongi might still come back.” The oldest sighed, more tired than anything at that moment. “As long as I’m here, all of you have a safe place to come back to. I just wish I could tell Yoongi and Jimin that.”

Namjoon stood up, placing a warm hand on Jin’s shoulder. “I’m sure they know. When they’re ready, they’ll come back. I know it. Jungkook will come around too. Just be patient.” He left the room.

“All I ever _do_ is wait anymore.”

~

Soon enough, it was time for Jin to leave for his own job. It was strange without Namjoon there with him. Before he left, he snuck into Jungkook’s room, carefully placing a kiss on the sleeping teen’s head. _Good luck,_ Jin thought as he left the room.

Focusing on work was difficult that day, not knowing if he’d be going back to an empty home or not. Being a night time janitor in a small office building didn’t exactly take a whole lot of concentration, but Jin constantly had to keep reminding himself to keep working and think about it. Having no one else there to work with him didn’t exactly help either.

Before he knew it, it was time for him to go home. He chewed his lip the whole ride back, terrified of what he was going to find when he arrived. Jin took his time walking to the apartment and even fumbled with his keys for a bit before he unlocked the door.

Immediately, his eyes went straight down to check what shoes were still there. Jungkook’s tan boots were missing. As were Namjoon’s beat up, black tennis shoes.

Jin didn’t make it any further than the entryway for a long time.


	41. Chapter 41

“Hyung, are you sure this is a good idea?” Taehyung asked as they walked through the busy bus terminal. They had covered the distance to the next town over fairly quickly and now were planning on getting a ride for the rest of the way. “Leaving the others behind and all.”

“Taehyung, you’re literally the one wanted to do this in the first place.” Hoseok’s eyes scanned for the right sign, double checking with the tickets. They’d been able to buy them this time, which alleviated some of the guilt from Hoseok’s heart. “Don’t tell me you’re starting to get doubts now.”

They found their bus successfully and got on, storing their bags overhead and sitting in the comfy seats. “Well, maybe just a little. We left in a rush and all. And Hyosang was pretty close to Jin too, so he should’ve come along instead of me. _And_ we could have at least gotten time off from our jobs, or given them notice or something. We’re so fired. We’ll have to get new jobs when we get back.”

“Maybe we can work together.” Hoseok leaned back, tired from running all night. He, at least, had lost quite a bit of the stamina they’d built up while in the facility. He should have been able to run for at least another day or so before feeling this tired. “Jungkook and Jimin won’t have anyone to go home with now.”

Taehyung nodded, feeling a little sad at that. He loved being able to spend time with Jungkook and hear about his day (not that he ever said much) before any of the others. “Yeah, I guess so. I hope they understand.” He yawned widely, beginning to feel the sleeplessness now. “I’m gonna get some sleep. You should too hyung.” There was no answer. “Hyung?” Taehyung looked over at Hoseok to find that he was asleep, knocked out cold. He smiled, leaning his head on his shoulder. “Who is the hyung here, anyway?”

~

The bus would only take them half way to Travue City, having focused more on being able to leave as soon as possible rather than waiting for the bus that would take them all the way. Once they arrived at the bus’s destination, they’d have to switch to a different one, but by the time they arrived, the last one for the day had already left, leaving them stranded in the bus station without a place to stay the night.

“Should we go to a hotel?” They both sort of grinned at that, remembering their times at the hotel fondly. “Or maybe there’s some shelter open that we could go to?”

“I don’t really want to spend our money now in case we really need it later.” Hoseok looked around as if hoping to find some magical sign telling them where to go. “We could walk around and see if we find something.”

“Like a shed?” Taehyung asked as they exited the bus station. “’Cause, hyung, I told you last we stayed in one, I was not doing that again.”

“The rat wasn’t that big.”

“It was as big as my head, hyung. I know because it was right _next to it,_ ” the younger argued. “It had glowing red eyes. It would have eaten all of us in our sleep if Jin hadn’t woken up and screamed like a girl.”

Hoseok shook his head. “That doesn’t mean there’s one in every shed.”

“I hope not, because we don’t have Jin to scream us awake now.”

They found an abandoned warehouse a little ways away where several homeless people had moved in. There were a couple fires burning in barrels strewn throughout the large building with people huddling around them to keep warm. Taehyung and Hoseok stuck close to the walls and out of the way, keeping themselves out of sight as best they could. It wouldn’t be impossible for someone to try and fight them, as young and well dressed as they were, but Hoseok wasn’t in the mood for such a hassle as escaping and finding somewhere else to stay.

The two boys slept in watches, one awake while the other slept. The night seemed to take forever, but finally morning came and soon the next bus heading to Trevue would be leaving. They slipped out and after a bit of fumbling their way around, found the bus station again.

Hoseok went and bought the tickets, and then they were off once more. They slept more on the ride, having not been able to rest properly on the cold hard floor while be woken up several times last night. It was late afternoon when they arrived in Trevue City. It was smaller than the one they were living in, and dirtier too. Even the air seemed dirty and grimy.

“Hyosang is from here?” Taehyung said as they looked around. He couldn’t imagine how such a bright and happy person could come from this disaster of a city. “It doesn’t really suit him, does it?”

“No.” Hoseok wondered how they were going to find anyone in this city, let alone without having any clue of what they were looking for or where to begin. “C’mon, let’s find somewhere cheap to stay and then we can go explore and figure out a plan.”

“Ah, hyung, taking charge again. What a man.” Taehyung fanned himself with his hand, pretending to swoon. “Whatever would I do without such a manly man as you?”

The older rolled his eyes but chuckled nonetheless. “Probably be annoying someone else right now.”

“Such words of wisdom. Words of truth.”

“Tae, shut up.”

“’Kay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really familiar with Hyosang as a person, so I'm just using his name and face and not really his personality, so if it seems wrong, that's why.


	42. Chapter 42

“Hyung, you really don’t have to come with me you know.” Jungkook sent a glare of his shoulder at Namjoon who was walking a few feet behind him. “You should go home to Jin.”

Namjoon shook his head. “Nah, I’m good. I have to take care of little Kookie bunny anyway. Who knows what trouble you’ll get yourself into without me?”

The teen rolled his eyes. “I’ll get into more trouble with you. Or at least just being around you,” he muttered under his breath.

“Where are we going? Do you have a plan?”

“I’m going south.” They were walking alone a country road, having left the city behind an or two ago. It wasn’t used often and wasn’t paved, but Namjoon had to admit that there was something nice and peaceful about being surrounded by the quietness of the endless fields of crops. They were indeed heading directly south and had been since they started out that morning.

“Why?”

“I want to see the ocean.”

“What a kid.”

Jungkook glared at him again. “Stop calling me kid and little. I’ll leave you behind.”

“Nah, you love me too much to do that.”

 _That’s what Jin thought,_ Jungkook thought, but didn’t dare say it aloud. 

They kept walking. Namjoon looked back whenever a car drove past, but Jungkook didn’t turn around. Once one slowed down, the driver rolling down the window to ask if they needed a ride anywhere. Jungkook shook his head and said ‘no’ before Namjoon could accept it.

“We could’ve gotten to the ocean faster if we’d gone with him,” the older remarked. “He seemed pretty trustworthy.”

Jungkook shrugged. “I want to get there on my own power. Not by someone else’s charity.”

“You don’t have to be so independent, Jungkook,” Namjoon reminded him gently. “There’s no reason not to use every chance you can. You’re just making life difficult for yourself.”

The younger didn’t answer. They walked on in silence until evening. By then they had reached a small town, nothing more than a few houses and a gas station surrounded by farmland. Namjoon was look around for somewhere to spend the night, but Jungkook kept walking through.

“Jungkook?” Namjoon had to jog a little to catch up to him. “Don’t you think we should stop for the night? It’s a bit dangerous walking out in the middle of nowhere after dark.”

“You can stop if you want. I’m gonna keep going.”

Namjoon sighed. He had promised Jin that he’d look after the teen, but he’d promised Jungkook that he wouldn’t tell him what to do in order to get permission to go along with Jungkook. “Jungkook, it’d be better to stop here. We’ve been walking all day. You must be tired.”

“I’m fine.”

“Jungkook, stop.” He didn’t. “ _Brat,_ ” Namjoon muttered. He took a deep breath and pressed a little with his mind, imagining a brick wall in front of Jungkook. Now, the younger stopped and turned back around.

He glared at the other, hip cocked and arms folded, the classic mom pose he’d picked up perfectly from Jin. “Hyung, you said—“

“That was before you decided to do something pointless and dangerous.” Namjoon closed the distance between them. “If we’re going to travel together, we need to work together.”

“I didn’t exactly want you to come along in the first place,” Jungkook reminded him. “You were the one who insisted on coming with, so you have to listen to me.” 

“Jungkook. Think about it.” They both jumped when a car when racing past suddenly, horn blaring. “Let’s stop for the night. We can keep going in the morning as soon as it gets light. If you wear yourself out now, you won’t be able to make it all the way. You can rest a little now or have to stop for days later.”

“I can rest by the ocean. It’s relaxing, right?”

Namjoon shook his head, running a hand through his hair. “We’ll rest when we get there, but let’s focus on getting there without dying of exhaustion first.”

They crept around the backs of the buildings until they found a worn down shed at the very edge of the field. Inside it was nearly filled full with gardening equipment and tools, but there was just enough room for them to squeeze in. It wasn’t comfortable, pressed tight against each other and bent awkwardly, but at least it was warmer than it was outside.

Namjoon struggled to sleep, his mind constantly going back and wondering what Jin was up to at that moment.  Most likely he’d be going to work, but perhaps he stayed home that night to… grieve? Was that even the right word? It probably wasn’t but Namjoon imagined that was somewhat like what Jin would be going through.

 _We’ll come back,_ Namjoon thought as he looked down at a sleeping Jungkook who was using his chest as a pillow. _One way or another, we’ll all be together again._


	43. Chapter 43

“I think we lost them, hyung,” Jimin said, panting heavily as he slowed down. Yoongi did as well, looking back behind them. They had been running for hours, night having already fallen. It was more than likely they’d long since lost the police officers chasing them, but neither had wanted to stop before now.

“Maybe we should find a river or something. In case they have dogs tracking us,” Yoongi suggested.

Jimin scrunched his face up at that. “In this kind of cold? We’ll get sick.” They were warm from running at the moment, but the temperature had dropped when the sun went down and it hadn’t been that warm in the first place. “It kinda feels like it’s going to rain soon anyways. That should cover up our scent a lot better, right?”

The older looked up at the sky. The clouds overhead had been threatening rain all day, and Yoongi wouldn’t be surprised if they finally broke within an hour or two. “Yeah, probably. We should find somewhere to wait out the night then, I guess.”

They both looked around as if there’d be a giant sign flashing to tell them where they could find a nice bed. Except there wasn’t and they were in the middle of the dark woods at night, without any idea which direction would lead to civilization.

 “Maybe we can find a hollow tree with nice elves inside that will feed us hot chocolate and sing us songs,” Jimin said. Yoongi glared at him, not in the mood. “Let’s keep going in the same direction as we have been and see if we can find a road or something.”

It was a long walk before they did find a narrow twisting, gravel road. Jimin wondered if his toes were still attached to his feet or if they’d fallen off. It was nearing midnight and all either of them wanted was _somewhere_ to lay down and rest.

The two wandered along the road, keeping an eye out for any type of man-made structure. It was nearing midnight when Yoongi spotted the burn out shell of a barn. He pointed it out to Jimin and they made their way towards it silently.

Barely a word was exchanged as they laid down in one of the corners in the barn, curled together for warmth. And they slept, the sounds of rain fall in their ears.

~

The next morning brought a cold stiffness to their limbs that refused to leave them until after an hour of walking. Breakfast had been a couple granola bars they’d picked up before getting into the truck. They were dry and hard and Jimin found himself longing for Jin’s warm cooking. He glanced at Yoongi, curious if he was thinking about the same thing.

It didn’t matter though.

They followed the road, unsure of which direction they should be headed in. Which lead Jimin to ask, “Where are we going?”

“Dunno. I just wanted to go.”

Jimin shook his head. Of course, Yoongi would be the one to just jump before he had a proper plan. An idea struck him. “Hyung, let’s go back Atlana. We can stay in the train car! It’d be so much fun, don’t you think?” Atlana had been the city the hotel they’d first worked at was in.

“If it’s still there. It might have been moved or destroyed or something.”

 _“Hyung,”_ Jimin whined. “Don’t be so negative all the time. At the very least we can try and see. What could it hurt?”

Yoongi thought about it for a while and shrugged. “It’s an idea I guess. And I left a lot of cd’s in there. It’d be nice to listen to them again.”

The younger beamed, nearly skipping along, filled with new energy. “Great! Let’s go.”

“We still have to figure out where we are first.” Jimin pouted, about to make another remark about how negative he was. He ruffled his hair, chuckling. “Just pointing that out. I think we ended up heading pretty far north, so we’re probably closer to it.” He winked. “How’s that for positive?”

Jimin rolled his eyes. Drily, he said, “There’s hope for you yet.”

“Brat.”

~

Taehyung and Hoseok wandered the streets, looking for some mystic sign to lead their way. Both had been wracking their brains for any sort of detail Hyosang had given them. All they remembered however, was the name of the city and fireworks festival. So now they were walking around without any plan and praying for something to happen.

“Maybe we should have brought Jin hyung with,” Taehyung said when they stopped to sit on a park bench to rest for a bit. “He’d probably remember something useful.”

“Yeah.” Hoseok sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes. “He’s gonna lecture the Hell out of us when we get back.”

“Excuse you, he’s going to lecture the Hell out of _you._ I am too pure and angelic to have any sort of Hell in me.” Taehyung laughed, sounding and looking anything but pure and angelic.

Hoseok rolled his eyes, smirking. “Whatever you say, Tae-tae.” His eyes drifted over to the sign that announced the name of the park: Galana Trae Park. “Galana Trae Park!” He shouted, the name clicking in his memory. “Taehyung, this is the park that the festival happens in! This is where he lived when he was on the streets. He said that his house was only a few blocks from here.”

He looked over at the younger, grinning. The other grinned back and they both promptly started off, determined to succeed. 


	44. Chapter 44

Hoseok took the glass of lemonade gratefully. “Thank you.” Taehyung was sitting at the worn kitchen table next to him, fingers tapping on his own glass nervously. The house was small and a little cluttered and dusty, but It was nice. It felt like there was a history here, something Hoseok and Taehyung hadn’t been able to experience for a long time.

She sat down across from them. There was a moment of silence. “Well? What happened to my son? How do you know him?”

Taehyung looked at Hoseok, unsure of what to say. Hoseok took a deep breath. “We were all in this facility together, along with a couple other boys. Ones that had ended up on the street without anywhere to go.”

“Hyosang ha—“ she cut herself off. “Well, no I suppose he didn’t. Sorry. What did they do there? Did they hurt you?”

“They experimented on us.” She looked alarmed. “They gave us superpowers, I guess you could say. And we learned to use and control them while they ran tests.”

“Superpowers?” She laughed. “You expect me to believe that?” The smiled on her face dropped when Taehyung held out his hand, a flower blossoming above his palm. “Oh my God. They did. Why hasn’t anyone heard about this? Shouldn’t that be all over the news?”

Taehyung let the flower drop onto the table. “It wasn’t exactly government sanctioned experiments. We were treated more like mice than humans most of the time.”

“So my son… Hyosang had these powers?”

“Yeah. He could turn invisible.” Hoseok chuckled, remembering the pranks Hyosang had gotten up to during their time together. “He was there the longest, except for Jin hyung.”

“How many of you were there?”

Taehyung sighed. “Seven us of managed to escape. Hyosang would have made eight but…”

“He died. When exactly?”

“Over a year ago. It was a couple weeks before we broke out. We’ve been on the run for a while.” Hoseok leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. She had fixed her eyes on him, quietly asking the details he didn’t want to think about. “It was during one of our tests. Sometimes we’re teamed up for one of the tests, and I was Hyosang that day.” He took a drink of lemonade, throat dry. “There was an accident and…”

“And? What happened exactly? I think I have the right to know.”

Hoseok was aware of how closely Taehyung was watching him as well, having not heard the details of it either. Jin and he had decided early on that it wasn’t something that they wanted the younger ones to know. Well, Jin decided. Hoseok didn’t want to talk to anyone about anything, let alone about what had happened.

“It’s kind of a blur, really.” It wasn’t. He relived it nearly every night when he had a nightmare. He could see every single second of it perfectly in slow motion, unable to move or stop it. It was awful enough at night. He didn’t want to relieve it now during the day. “He, um, didn’t suffer at all, if that’s what you want to know. It was over before I even knew what happened.” Another lie. He knew what was happening right from the moment it started but had been unable to stop. If anything, he was the one who suffered.

“But what happened?” She was staring him down as if she knew he was hiding something. Hoseok really was the worst liar in world. “Why did my son die? Did he make a mistake? What?”

“It was my fault.”

“Hyung, that’s not—“

“It _is.”_ Hoseok sighed, sick of feeling guilty all the time. “My power—it’s not exactly good.”

Her expression turned colder. “What the hell do you mean by that?”

“It was an accident.”

“You keep saying that.”

Taehyung shifted uncomfortably. “It was. Hoseok wouldn’t intentionally hurt anyone, especially not Hyosang hyung.”

“He admitted it to being his fault,” she snapped. “This never would have happened if he hadn’t run off with the Seokjin boy. He would still be here and safe.”

“Seokjin?” they both asked together. It couldn’t be _their_ Seokjin.

The woman waved them off with one hand. “Some kid that just appeared out of nowhere. He’s the one that Hyosang ran off with.”

“What was he like?” Taehyung asked.

She shrugged, not wanting to deal with them. “Pretty. Bossy.”

“Wide shoulders and puffy lips?”

“Yes. Why? Do you know him?”

Hoseok and Taehyung looked at each other, not wanting to believe it. “Well, we should be going now. I’m very sorry about your son and I wish he could have escaped with us,” Taehyung said hurriedly. They didn’t give her a chance to stop them before leaving out the front door and heading back towards their hotel. “Did you know that Hyosang knew Jin hyung before they were in the facility?”

“No. I had no idea. Neither of them mentioned it at all.” Hoseok ran through her words in his mind. “It kind of sounds like Jin hyung was actually the one who _recruited_ Hyosang. But that wouldn’t make sense. Jin said that he was the first one. That Hyosang joined him later.”

“What if they let him out in order to get Hyosang to join? Like they promised him better food or something if he brought someone else in?”

Taehyung shook his head. “But why wouldn’t they tell us that? And didn’t both of them mention a couple other people that had been there before Hyosang was there, but after Jin was? And why would they just let him out like that? Jin’s the one who could escape the easiest out of anyone, if you think about it. They would have been taking a huge risk.”

“Yeah, but if he was told everyone would get better food or something if he brought in another street kid, then Jin would have done it immediately.”

“True.” They arrived at the shady looking hotel they were staying at. The conversation halted until they were safe inside their room with the door locked. Even then, they kept their voices low, aware of just how thin the walls were. “I still think one of them would have mentioned it.”

Hoseok sat on the edge of the bed, the springs creaking noisily. “Jin probably felt guilty about it though. I mean, the people in charge didn’t deliver and he’d dragged some other person in to it now. And Hyosang adored Jin. He wouldn’t say anything to make him uncomfortable.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Taehyung sat beside him with a sigh. “You—you don’t think that Jin was actually working with them do you? Like what if he was in there just to watch us or gain our trust? What if this is still part of the experiment? What if we didn’t escape and they really just let us go?”

The older calmed him with a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t think Jin would work with them. Although…”

“What?”

“Well they stopped testing him a couple days after the Hyosang incident. He was still doing fine in his tests, but I wasn’t. If anything they should have stopped testing me. And they had never stopped testing someone before. It was just that they went to test and never came back.” Hoseok stood up abruptly and began pacing the short length of the room. “If they didn’t want to test him, they would have gotten rid of him. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Unless he wasn’t there just to be tested.”

“Exactly.”

Taehyung suddenly looked a lot less certain. “Are we—are we really questioning Jin hyung? I mean, he’s done nothing but care and watch out for us since the beginning. It’s not like he’s ever given us reason to doubt him.”

“He stole the money and didn’t tell us,” Hoseok reminded him. “What if stealing the money was a lie, too? What if the money was really from the facility people in case we did have trouble? So the experiment wouldn’t be interrupted.”

“What does this all mean?” Taehyung asked, distressed and looking to the older for help.

“It means we can’t trust Jin anymore.”

**End Part Two**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this will be the last chapter for a while until I can sort out how I'm going to do the third part, so please wait patiently. There will be more. (And it will be Tears)


End file.
